The Wizard Duo
by Kite04
Summary: Trouble often finds its way to Harry Potter, and sometimes to those around him as well. Neville Longbottom was just at the wrong place at the wrong time, but for the first time, he was able to experience a Harry Potter style adventure, on a personal level. Now all the two friends have to do is to find a way back home. Sounds simple enough.
1. Chapter 1

_**(19/04/18)**_

 **For returning readers, the last part of this chapter has been re-written. Just a head up. Sorry for the long delay.**

* * *

It was a great morning in Harry's opinion. The summer had just started, which meant the temperature wasn't very high, but it was still hot enough for him to sit outside of Florean Fortescue's and enjoy a big chocolate ice cream.

"When I said I would let you pick the meeting place, I didn't expect...this," from the seat across the table, Neville Longbottom said. His hand was holding a vanilla ice cream of his own.

"What did you expect then?" Harry asked as he took in the sight of Diagon Alley. Two years had passed since the end of the second war with Voldemort, and the wounds it inflicted upon their world had started to heal. The Alley was filled with people, each with a smile on their face, a complete contrast with how they were during Voldemort's reign. There was no longer any boarded up, abandoned shop. The owners who fled during the war had returned to start anew, and the ones who 'went missing', such as Fortescue, were replaced by their relatives. The quality of their goods suffered a little, but nobody seemed to mind.

"I don't know," Neville shrugged. "Maybe a cup of Firewhiskey in the Leaky Cauldron?"

"Please. I'll pass on that," Harry laughed. "Do you know how us Aurors bond with each when we're off duty? A hint: It isn't over ice cream or butterbeer."

"So… Pumpkin juice?"

Harry merely arched an eyebrow.

"Alright, you got me," Neville joined into his laughter. "Though I have to admit that I was surprised when you agreed to meet. It's been awhile since I last met anyone from the old group, moving into Hogwarts doesn't exactly give me a lot of free time."

"Yeah, congratulation on that, by the way," Harry nodded and took a bite off of his ice cream cone. "I thought it would still be years until Professor Sprout steps down. I don't remember ever seeing a Hogwarts teacher as young as you."

"Says the youngest to become a Seeker in the last century," Neville grinned. "I was surprised too when she came to me. Apparently I really impressed her during my school years."

"Good for you, mate," Harry said. "How's work?"

"Tired, but fun. Being the youngest teacher makes it a little harder for the students to take me seriously, but being a war hero helps. It's taking care of the greenhouses and plan the lessons that take up most of my time, and that's when I still have Sprout's notes to help me. Now I barely have any break to practice fencing anymore."

"You still do that?" Harry raised an eyebrow. "I mean, the way you got Nagini back then was bloody beautiful, but none of us expects you to actually stick with the sword."

"It's a good sport as any," Neville shrugged. "Unlike you, I'm rubbish on a broom, and our world doesn't offer a wide range of physical activities to choose from. But that's enough about me? How are you?"

"Decent," Harry said. "I also haven't had many chances to see the others. Ron and Hermione are busy with their upcoming wedding, so are the Weasleys. I only met them a few times when I came over to help, and that isn't much, considering my training, Auror 'bonding', and other projects."

"Somehow I don't like the sound of that," Neville frowned. That expression quickly changed into a smile though, when some people went past them, recognized who they were and waved.

"Of what? My project?" Harry laughed when he saw his friend's face. "It's nothing dangerous. I'm just collaborating with the Unspeakables to look into the Veil. You remember the whispers that I heard when we were near it during our fifth year? Apparently I'm the only one who can hear it now."

"And how is that not dangerous?" Neville sighed and hid his face into his free hand.

"As long as I don't fall through it? Completely safe," Harry shrugged. "There's another reason that I agreed to help them though."

"Your Godfather."

"Exactly," Harry nodded. "I know that he came back when I used the Resurrection Stone, but… I can't really explain it. You can say that I'm not satisfied with him just dying off like that. I need to know the exact answer."

"Well, it's not like I can make you change your mind." Neville sighed again. "You've always been stubborn like that."

"Thanks."

"It's not exactly a complement," he rolled his eyes. "But… The Veil, huh? Sounds interesting."

"Am I hearing things now?" To say Harry was surprised was an understatement. "You consider something like that interesting?"

"Git. You sound like I don't know how to have fun," Neville swatted Harry's shoulder. "It's just… The Veil is such an interesting artifact, so are many other things down in the Department of Mystery. But it's the only thing that I've been close to."

"Want to see it again?"

"Can I?" Neville's eyes widened, but it soon changed into a frown. "Or not. I can't just go in there and look at it."

"I can take you in," said Harry.

"I don't think it's that simple," Neville shook his head. "I don't want to get you into trouble."

"It's up to you," Harry smiled. "Actually, I've had a theory about that Veil for awhile now, and I'm planning to test it today."

* * *

 _ **Thirty minutes later.**_

"Damn it," Neville swore under his breath as he and Harry stood in front of the Veil.

"You're tempted after all," Harry couldn't help but laugh, as he had been doing a few times on the way here, and his side was hurting.

"Well yeah," Neville glared at him. "You planning to test something out is never a good sign. As your friend, I know better than to let you do… whatever you will do alone."

"Excuse, excuse," Harry grinned and waved his hand in a dismissive manner.

"Whatever you say," Neville rolled his eyes. He then stepped up onto the Veil's petesdal, before slowing circling it.

"Just like the last time I saw it," he said. "Does Hermione know? I bet she would do anything for a chance to study an artifact like this."

"She doesn't know. Haven't told her yet," Harry shook his head. "She has enough things on her plate right now. I don't want her to worry about me."

"You will have to tell her someday," Neville shook his head. "Where are all the Unspeakables?"

"They won't come here for at least another hour," Harry said. He then paused and looked around to make sure that no one else was around, before putting up a _Muffliato_. "You see, the fact that I'm the owner of all three Deathly Hallows is a secret only a trusted few know about."

"Yes, and?" Neville turned to look at him. "You threw the stone away and left the wand with Dumbledore, right? So that shouldn't matter anymore."

"Ah, yes, I haven't told you this part yet," Harry shrugged. "Apparently, I can't get rid of them. Two days after Dumbledore's funeral, the wand and the stone came back to me."

"Came back? How?" Neville's eyes narrowed.

"No idea. They just appeared on top of my bed," said Harry. "I tried to throw them away, breaking the wand, burning it. Nothing helped. They always return the next day."

"How about I disarming you right here?"

"Hermione tried that too," he shook his head. "Didn't work. Apparently once you possessed all three Hallows, they are bound to you until the day you die. So unless you're going to kill me…"

"Don't you even joke about that."

"Just a possibility. I'm not looking forward to die now that a normal life is within my grasp," Harry laughed. "Anyway, that's where my new idea for the Veil comes from. When we were here before during our fifth year. I could only hear whispers since the invisibility cloak was the only thing I owned back then. However, when I returned here for the first time with the Unspeakables, I could hear those voices much clearer."

"And you think the Hallows are somehow connected to this Veil?" Neville asked. "So, what does those voices say?"

"Gibberish, mostly," Harry sighed and stepped up the petesdal himself. Just a couple of steps up, and the Runes on the Veil's arc was starting to shine faintly.

"You…" Neville's eyes darted between Harry and the Veil. "You're having them on your person right now."

"Yes," Harry nodded. "I've never brought the wand and the stone out of my house except for getting rid of them. Looks like it's worth a try."

As he walked closer to the Veil, the Runes kept shining brighter and brighter.

"Should I call the Unspeakables?" Neville frowned and took a step away.

"Later," said Harry. "I don't want them to know about the Hallows. If they do, I'll become a test subject myself."

"But…"

"As long as I don't fall through, it's safe," he shook his head. He was directly in front of the Veil now. The Runes' light was almost blinding, and the voices were no longer a faint whisper. It felt like there were hundreds of people talking around him now. Some even shouting.

However, nothing happened until Harry raised his hand and touched the arc. Neville tried to stop him, but Harry couldn't hear it. It was getting too loud.

The moment his finger laid on one of the Runes, a deafening scream came from outside, replacing all the gibberish chatter. Before Harry could cover his ears, he saw the space inside the Veil changed. Where it was a layer of mist before, now appeared an oddly glowing surface. Before he was able to ask if Neville was seeing the same thing, Harry felt himself being sucked toward the Veil and tried to escape, but wasn't able to. The arc's surface was too big for any stable grip. Harry could feel his fingers slipping off one by one.

"Crap," he murmured as the Veil's pull got stronger. Just before he was completely sucked inside, a pair of firm hands grabbed his wrist and yanked. Not that it did much except for making Harry feel like his shoulder just got dislocated. Through the tear, he could see Neville gritting his teeth. One of his feet were on the ground, the other placed on the arc itself, while trying to pull Harry out using both of his hands.

"This is… exactly why… I can't leave you alone," Neville shouted between his panting.

"Thanks," said Harry. "But I don't think it's working. Go get the Unspeakables."

"And let you… go in there? Never." Neville grunted.

"I...I think I will be fine," said Harry hesitantly. "I still can control my legs and my other arm. So maybe I won't die."

"Like I could trust your definition of 'safety' any more!"

"But if you don't let go you will be pulled in too," Harry shouted at his friend. All of a sudden, the pull got much stronger. Neville's foothold on the arc slipped and both of them pummeled into the Veil. Neville's shocked face was the last thing Harry saw before darkness claimed him.

* * *

When Harry opened his eyes, he almost expected to see the familiar white ceiling of Hogwarts' infirmary or a room at St. Mungo. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that his body was aching all over. Instead, he found himself staring at the blurry image of a wooden ceiling. It was more like the sight inside Hagrid's hut, but there wasn't any animal skin or dried meat hanging anywhere.

"Neville?" Harry croaked, recalling his last moment before passing out.

"Here, mate," came a reply from somewhere on his left. Harry let out a relieved sigh.

"How are you?" He asked.

"Feeling like crap," Neville answered. "My head hurts, and my body was aching all over. You?"

"Same," Harry said. "Where the hell are we?"

"No idea. I've just woken up myself."

Harry blinked his eyes a few times before using all of his remaining strength to push himself up. It looked like he was still wearing his robe, but when he reached into its inner pocket, both of his wands were gone. The stone and the cloak were inside of a charmed bag that was attached to his hip, and at least it was still there.

Harry was starting to panic. However, he quickly calmed down after seeing both wands on the nightstand next to his bed, together with his glasses.

"Thanks Merlin," he murmured while putting on the glasses and pocketing the wands. Now he could see clearly. The room he and Neville were in was made entirely of wood. It was a little bigger, and much cleaner than Hagrid's hut. Harry's bed was in a corner, and Neville's was only a few steps away. On the opposite wall was a wooden cabinet with some kind of herbs inside, together with a couple of potion bottles, and there was a big campfire right in the middle of the room.

Neville also just pushed himself into a sitting position, and the two traded a confused glance. However, before either of them could voice their question, the only door in the room opened, and they heard a surprised gasp, followed by a dry 'Clang' noise of something hitting the floor.

Harry and Neville turned to the source of the commotion and their eyes widened. Standing there was a young girl around their age with long _green_ hair tied up into a ponytail. At her feet was a piece of cloth and a large metal bowl that she just dropped. The water inside was splashing everywhere, but the girl didn't seem to notice. She was too busy staring back at the two men in shock.

"Uhm… Hello?" Harry tried to break the ice. Hearing his voice, the girl instantly snapped out of her daze.

At this point, Harry was expecting her to greet him back, and not getting even more panicked and got down on her knees.

"I'm so sorry, sir," she stammered while hastily wiping the floor with the cloth. "I… I didn't know that you two were awake and barged into the room. Please don't punish me."

"What are you saying?" Harry frowned slightly as he stood up and walked toward the girl. However, he stopped after a few steps, seeing how the girl shrunk away from him..

"Please return to your bed," she said. "I will get this cleaned up right away."

"There's no need," said Harry. "Please stand up. I think we are having a big misunderstanding here."

The girl looked confused for a moment before standing up. She was still holding the wet cloth, and was shaking slightly. Harry sighed and pulled out his wand - the Phoenix one - before pointing at the puddle on the ground, all the while trying to ignore the girl's reaction toward him. She was terrified after seeing the wand.

" _Evanesco."_

All of the water disappeared. Harry then put his wand away.

"There, all done," he said. "Now can you _please_ explain what is going on here? Why are you so scared of us?"

"Because… you two are Nobles and I just disrupted your privacy," the girl answered. Her eyes were still wide open, staring at the floor where the water was a few seconds ago. However, seeing that she wasn't going to be 'punished' seemed to calm her down a little.

"Us? Nobles?" Harry raised an eyebrow.

"Yes," the girl answered.

"Me? And Neville over there?" Couldn't believe in his ear, Harry asked again, this time pointing at himself, and then Neville, just to be sure.

The girl nodded.

"How did you come to that conclusion anyway?" he folded his arms in front of his chest.

"Because you two are able to use magic," she said, tilting her head slightly and blinked as if she couldn't be sure whether Harry was testing her or not.

"I still don't get it," he shook his head. "What's your name?"

"I'm Tania, sir."

"Alright, Tania. I don't know if using magic and nobility have anything to do with each other, but let us clear up something here," Harry said. "My name is Harry Potter, and the bloke over there is Neville Longbottom..."

"Nice to meet you," Neville's voice came from behind.

"...And we are _not_ Nobles," Harry finished.

"But… your wands… and magic…" Tania stuttered. She still wasn't looking at him.

"Well, sure, we can use magic, as you can see," Harry glanced at his wand. "But how does that make us Nobles?"

"You just are. Oh... You two aren't some disgraced Nobles, right?" Finally, Tania looked up from her feet. She was now looking at him with skeptical eyes, but Harry was cheering. Having a girl cowered before him just because he could use magic felt so awkward.

"No," Harry said. "I don't even know what the hell 'disgraced Noble' means."

"So… I won't get punished?" Tania asked.

"What's with you and punishment?"

"Because when the Noble who rules this land come to collect the tax, if we can't gather enough money or give him a satisfying service, he punishes us," Tania said quickly and shrank a little at Harry's tone. He didn't mean to scare her though.

Hearing her words, Harry looked at Neville and saw his friend sharing his expression - a deep frown. Looked like being a Noble here was more than just a fancy title, and from the way Tania acted when she thought she was going to be punished, it didn't seem like the Noble's punishment would end with a slap on the wrists either.

"Look, Tania, we aren't going to punish you," finally Neville said as Harry took a step back. Maybe that would help her relax. "We're just two regular blokes who somehow ended up here. Though that reminds me, where are we?"

"This is our infirmary," Tania said. "Yesterday, my brother found you two unconscious just outside of our village and brought you in."

Harry and Neville shared another glance.

"This may sound a little odd, but what's the name of this village?" Harry asked. His training as an Auror had brought him to many places within Britain, but for the life of him, he couldn't remember a place with this kind of wooden house like the one they were in, except for Hagrid's hut. The plain clothing Tania was wearing didn't make much sense either. It was too old fashioned, even the folks in the countryside didn't dress like that anymore.

"This is Asburg," Tania said. "You two really aren't from around here, are you?"

"That's what we've been saying," Harry sighed. He didn't recognize the name, and from the puzzled look on his face, Neville wasn't faring any better. "How far are we from London?"

"Is that what they call Londinium these days?" Tania looked confused. "Our village is in Tristain, so if you want to travel there, it will take days to go to La Rochelle, then took a ship from its port..."

"Eh… I will have to stop you there," Neville raised his hand. "We want to go to London, not Londinium, wherever that is."

"You haven't heard of Albion's capital city?" Tania gasped. "Where are you two from?"

"London, England," Harry frowned. The name Albion didn't escape him. It was like they were talking about the same place, just in two very, very different period. Though he also had to admit that there wasn't any country named Tristain around the time the Great Britain was still called Albion, so maybe they didn't travel through time after all.

Everything was just so bizzare.

"I've never heard of them. Sorry," Tania shook her head.

"It's alright," Harry gave her a small smile. "I hate to be more of a bother, but do you have any world map?"

* * *

"Alright, this doesn't make any sense. This can't be everything," Neville frowned at the map on his bed. Tania had brought it to them before taking her leave to prepare supper.

"Yet it is," Harry gritted his teeth. He was leaning against Neville's nightstand. "We asked for a world map, and this is it."

"But… Albion is a bloody floating island, how is that possible? And Germania can't be this small." Neville groaned. "Well, the shape is kinda right, but…"

"Don't forget the names that we don't recognize," Harry said. "Tristain, Gallia. And there's Romalia."

"So time travel is out?" Neville sighed.

"That's what I think too," Harry nodded. "Though I don't know if we should feel happy about that. Sorry, I should have listened to you and called the Unspeakables or something…"

"You should," Neville shook his head. "But it was partially my fault for not stopping you earlier. Don't get me wrong. I _am_ mad, but there are more pressing matters, like what in the world should we do now?"

"Searching for a way back should be our top priority, though I don't have a clue where to begin," Harry sighed. "Maybe I'll ask Tania. She appears to be a muggle, but knows about magic. At least she can give us a direction."

"Right," Neville folded up the map and put it on the nightstand, before casting a troubled glance at the door. "Speaking of Tania, I'm a little concerned about her reaction when she thought we were Nobles."

"Same here," said Harry. "Magic is not a secret. Using magic makes you a Noble, and a Noble apparently has a higher standing than a muggle, enough to dish out punishments. This place is a Death Eaters' paradise."

"Let's hope it isn't like this everywhere," Neville shivered. "I can't imagine living in a world like this, even temporarily."

"You speak my mind," Harry agreed before pushing himself up. "I'm feeling better, so I'll go look for Tania, you can rest more if you want."

"Nah," Neville shook his head and stood up. "I'm thinking of taking a look around this village, see what I can find."

"Suit yourself," Harry shrugged.

* * *

The infirmary turned out to be smaller than Harry thought. It was only consisted of a small lobby area at the front, and the patient's room at the back. The loo was a small hut separated from the main building, and there was no kitchen. Tania wasn't anywhere to be found in the vicinity, but the fact that she took care of the patients told Harry that she had to be living nearby, so he went to check out the house next door. Neville went off to the opposite direction after telling Harry that he would be back in an hour.

Harry approached the house and was about to knock on the door when he heard some noise coming from behind. Feeling a little curious, he walked around, and saw Tania there, chopping wood into smaller pieces with an axe. At first, Harry almost couldn't believe in his own eyes. Tania was a petite girl, and the axe she was holding looked far too big for someone like her to wield. Yet she was swinging it up and down like it was nothing.

Still, the large pile of unchopped wood next to her would take a long time to be done.

"Need any help?" He asked and stepped out from the corner he was standing. Unfortunately, his sudden appearance startled the poor girl.

"AH!" Tania jumped and the axe almost flew out of her grip. She turned around, panting heavily while putting a hand over her chest.

"Wh...What are you doing out here?" She asked and wiped the sweat from her forehead.

"Looking for you, actually," Harry said. "I'm feeling better and have some more questions. Sorry for that, by the way."

"It's… alright, just don't sneak up on me next time," Tania nodded. "But I'm a little busy at the moment. I have to prepare supper for us, as well as your friend and my brother. Can you wait until I'm done?"

"I don't mind, but do you mind me lending a hand?" He glanced at the pile of wood. "We can get it done faster. You've been helping me and Neville out, so…"

"But you've just woke up," Tania said. "Chopping wood is hard work. I can't make my patient do something like that."

"It's not that hard with this," Harry pulled out his Phoenix wand. He felt bad immediately though, when Tania took a step back after he did so.

"Sorry," he said quickly. "Maybe it's not such a good idea. Do you… hate magic or something?"

"Not really, but the spell you used earlier was the first one I saw that wasn't used to punish us commoners," Tania sighed, shivering slightly. "But maybe I can use some help here after all. My brother is going hunting and he should be back soon. As long as you don't exert yourself, of course."

"Just leave it to me," Harry grinned and raised his wand again. For someone who took down dark wizards for a living, a pile of wood wasn't even a challenge. He made short work of it, piling everything back up neatly before helping Tania to transport whatever she needed into the kitchen and bathroom. Everything was finished in around twenty minutes.

"Thank you, Harry," Tania beamed as she put down the last pile of wood she was carrying. The girl absolutely refused to let Harry do everything by himself, even with magic. "I've never seen magic like that before. The Nobles who frequents this place uses fire all the time."

"Well I know a thing or two about fire myself, so maybe I can help you light the fire for the kitchen and the bath," Harry shrugged.

"Thanks again, but it's alright," she shook her head. "You said you have some questions? You can ask while I prepare the meal. There's no axe come flying if I'm distracted now."

Harry felt like it would be impolite to keep pushing, so he accepted her offer. The two of them then moved to the kitchen, which was only a place on the side of the house with a roof over it and no wall. Harry sat down on an old wooden chair and wait for Tania to start the fire before resuming the conversation.

Having nothing to do, he glanced around and took in the surrounding. The sun hadn't set yet, so he could see everything clearly. Once again, the scenery reminded Harry of Hagrid's hut, with a forest not far away. The dirt road that was in front of the house, which Harry guessed also ran the length of the village itself, led deep into the darkness of the wood. Looking at the way the trees swayed with the afternoon's breeze, while the last warm light from the Sun illuminate everything, sent a calming sensation through him. It was the exact opposite of the Forbidden Forest.

 _Everyone should have realized that we're gone now,_ Harry felt an ache at the thought that the memories of his own world brought. Even in the Auror Corp, he was notorious for his recklessness and tendency to take risk while on the field. But all of that wasn't enough of an excuse for him not to listen to Neville's warning.

 _It was right before Hermione and Ron's wedding too,_ closing his eyes, Harry sighed and leaned back against the chair, making it groan under his weight. He would feel so bad if they ended up dropping everything to start searching for him, and they definitely would, knowing those two. The only thing he could do now is to find out how to get back as soon as possible, or at least sending something back, to let his friends know that he and Neville were safe.

"You should go back and take a rest if you're tired," came Tania's voice. Harry snapped out of his daze, shaking his head to clear out the depressing thought before saying.

"It's okay, just thinking about home."

"I can see that they weren't happy thoughts," said Tania while chopping the vegetable. The way her hands moved told Harry that she had been doing that for a long time. Not that it was a surprise.

"Not exactly," he said. "I was brooding, wasn't I?"

It wasn't even that hard to spot whenever Harry was brooding, as Hermione always reminded him.

"Yes," Tania nodded. "Do you mind if I ask you something?"

"That should be my question, but sure, go ahead."

Tania didn't speak right away, but continuing to work as if she was having a second thought about the question, and Harry didn't rush her. Once she was done with the vegetable and dropped them all into a boiling pot, Tania turned back to face him.

"How did you and Neville come here? It's not common to find strangers lying unconscious around the village, you know," she said. "And while we're at that. Are you sure that I can call you and your friend by name like that?"

"I don't see any problem with that. Why?" Harry raised an eyebrow, though he already knew the answer.

"It's just… strange," Tania smiled. "All the Nobles that I know wouldn't allow us commoners to address them like that."

"I'm not a Noble," Harry said.

"So you say, but you can still use magic," she shook her head. "So… about my other question…"

"Honestly? I'm not too sure," Harry scratched his head. "Long story short, I didn't take enough precaution when dealing with unknown magic, and got transported here. Neville was pulled along."

"Fair enough, I guess," she blinked after a few seconds. "What do you want to ask me then?"

"Do you know much about magic?" Ask Harry. He decided that there was no point in beating around the bush.

"No," Tania shook her head, much to his disappointment. "Generally, magic knowledge is off limit for us commoners. I only know what I've seen before, which isn't all that much, and a little bit about magical herbs around here, thanks to my grandma. Why do you ask?"

"Like I said, we got here through unknown magic," Harry sighed.

"So you want to find a way back home?"

"Yes," Harry nodded.

"I'm afraid that I can't be of much help in that case," Tania looked a little sad. "Though if it's magic knowledge, then maybe it's luck that you appeared here in Tristain."

"What do you mean?"

"Tristain is the only country in Halkegenia with a magic academy," she said. "I've never been there, obviously, but if you're searching for knowledge, I think that's your best bet."

"That sounds interesting," Harry admitted. The image of Hogwarts flashed through his mind. If this 'academy' was anything like his old school, then there was still hope yet. "How far is it from here?"

"Around one week if you go by horse. Unfortunately, our village is close to Gallia's border, while the academy is on the other side of the country," Tania's smile then returned in full force. "Though if you decide to go, the road will take you through our Capital city. My grandma is there at the moment. I've always wanted to visit it."

"Why haven't you though?" Harry asked.

"I can't," Tania sighed before casting a longing look into the forest. "With my grandma gone, I'm the only one with medical knowledge left in the village. Besides, she is only there on the order of a high ranking Noble. A chance like that doesn't come often to people like us."

"Sorry," Harry mumbled.

"Don't you worry about that," she waved his apologize away. "I'm happy with the life here. I still have my brother and grandma, and everybody is friendly. The only downside is…"

"The ruling Noble," Harry said, and Tania nodded. Before he could ask more question, however, an all too familiar 'Pop!' noise came from the road's direction. Tania yelped and almost knocked down the pot near her, while Harry reacted on instinct, springing up from his seat. His wand was out in an instant and pointed at the newcomers, who turned out to be Neville and another man with short green hair, the same shade as Tania's. The latter appeared to be sick from the apparate trip that Neville just took him through.

"Wh… What in Brimir's name was that?" He had to used his longbow as a place to lean on, since his knees were still shaking. In order to do so, he had to drop the rather large leather bag he was holding, together with what looked like a dead boar.

"Yes, Neville. What was _that_?" Harry frowned. He only had one eye on his friend though, as the other was busy looking at the content of the dropped bag, which turned out to be some hares that had been trapped. By now, he already had a good guess about who the man was.

"It's apparition, why do you ask?" Neville raised an eyebrow, but quickly grinned and held up his hand. "Just kidding. I met Remy here on my way back. He twisted his ankle and was having a hard time hauling all those goods. Once I found out he was Tania's brother, I decided to lend him a hand."

"Just... Just warn me next time... Please, Sir Noble. Thanks, Tania," said Remy as he accepted a cup of water from his sister, whom rushed over and helped him sitting down on the nearest chair. He refused, however.

"I can't sit while they're standing. Are you mad?"

Hearing his words, Neville and Harry traded a resigned look and sighed. Tania, on the other hand, just giggled.

"What? What did I miss?" Remy frowned.

 **End of Chapter 1.**


	2. Chapter 2

_*****PLEASE READ THIS (19/04/18)*****_

 **I'll keep it short. The entire plan for this story has been rewritten so I can join Nanowrimo. So returning readers, please re-read the last part of Chapter 1 since it has been changed. The bandits' arrival has been scrapped in order to build up another battle with a more worthwhile enemy.**

 **That's all. Enjoy. And sorry for the delay.**

* * *

Supper was delayed as Tania brought her brother into the infirmary to treat his ankle. Harry and Neville offered to help, since both of them also have some knowledge in healing magic. Harry picked up some basics from his Auror training, while Neville had to learn by himself to deal with the injuries from some of the more dangerous plants in Hogwarts' greenhouses.

Tania, however, politely refused, saying that it was just a twisted ankle, and a simple mixture of some herbs would do that job just fine. Her confidence was founded, since just fifteen minutes later, Remy re-emerged, walking around like nothing happened as he started helping his sister with dinner, mostly in the way of skinning and butchering some of the hares that he caught. The boar, due to its size, was saved for a later date.

Finally it was meal time. On the table in front of Harry was a large bow of rabbit stew and another dish that looked like stir fried cabbage. A few words were said in a hurry before everyone dug in. They were all famished, especially Harry and Neville, who had been unconscious for a whole day.

Soon, the group of four emptied everything on the table and Tania started cleaning. Neville, to Harry's surprise, also begged off, saying that he had something that he wanted to do. That left Harry alone with Remy, who was looking at him with apparent curiosity.

"You two aren't from around here, and aren't Noble. Had me scared shitless when I found you lying around at the village entrance. Imagine what would happen to us if some Nobles died in our care," Remy chuckled after awhile. "I had my doubts, but after that appa… Whatever is was that your friend did earlier… I've never seen anything like that from the Nobles around here. They can only control elements."

"I'm just glad I don't have to explain it all over again," Harry sighed. "So Tania has filled you in already?"

"She did, but I want to confirm it on my own," Remy scratched his head. He then smiled. "She said you were going to the Academy? Any plan yet?"

"Not yet," Harry shook his head. "I've only heard of the magic Academy a few hours ago and still haven't talked to Neville about it. But I guess it's our best bet. I don't know how we are going to get there though."

"Maybe I can help with that,"Remy pondered. "There's a trading caravan that came through this village twice a month. The next time is just a few days from now. You can ask to ride with them. You have to pay them though. You have money, right?"

"I do, but…" Harry frowned as he took out a Galleon from his pocket and tossed it on the table. "It's not this place's money."

"Oh…" Remy's smile withered slightly. "That could be a problem."

"You tell me. I also have to pay you and Tania back for taking care of us."

"I wish I could say 'Don't worry about it.'," Remy laughed. "But you're right. We would appreciate the payment. But since you don't have money…" He took the coin and inspected it for awhile before started flipping it through his fingers. "This is pure gold, right?"

"As far as I know, yes," Harry nodded. He could see where this was going.

"Maybe you can trade it with the merchant once the caravan gets here for some money. I don't know how much you will get for each of these, but probably not one new gold, since they will have to melt it down. There's no use for it as it is now."

"Melt it down? But these…" Harry raised an eyebrow, but an idea quickly settled inside his mind, and a grin crept up on his face. "Say Remy, how much will the merchant pay for a magic artifact from our home country?"

"If the magic is unknown, probably a lot, depends on the Noble whom he's going to sell it to. I can't tell the exact amount though. I'm a hunter, not a trader. What do you have in mind?"

Once again, curiosity shone in the man's eyes, though it reminded Harry of a child who was excited to see what his Christmas presents were, rather than the thirst for knowledge that he often saw in Hermione.

"You're holding it," he said. His grin grew a little wider.

"This coin?" Remy's eyes widened. He stopped flipping the Galleon and started to inspect it again. "What's so special about it?"

"It wasn't made by human," Harry said, trying not to laugh as the other man's eyes shot up in disbelief. "Another race called the Goblins produced all of our money."

"We also have goblins," Remy nodded hesitantly. "Although I don't think they're the same. The little buggers here couldn't do anything more than terrorize us human. Met a few when I go hunting. It was them that made me trip and twisted my ankle earlier. Let me tell you, they are a right pain in the arse."

"At least that part is the same," Harry laughed, and Remy soon joined. "Anyway, they put some kind of magic on the coin, making it unable to be melted by any normal mean."

"Is that so? It looks like a normal coin to me. But I guess that's the point," said Remy after recovering from his laughter. "If what you said is true, then this coin might just fetch a fair price. We will know once the merchant gets here."

He tossed the coin back. Harry caught it from the air and put it back in his pocket.

"In any case, thanks for your help," He told Remy, who waved it away in a 'don't mention it' way. "I should go find Neville and talk about our future plan with him."

"You two should get some rest as well," Remy nodded as the two of them stood up. "Tania will give me an earful if I keep her patients up too late."

With that, they bid each other goodnight before going on their separate way.

* * *

After dinner, Neville watched Tania leaving the room before begging off himself.

"I'll be back soon," he told Harry and received a nod in return. It looks like Remy had some questions for them. Neville had noticed the curious glances that he threw their way. Harry could handle him while Neville went out and do some information gathering on his own.

 _Hopefully Harry can figure out something,_ he sighed and stepped out of the house, stopping for a moment to let the cool wind wash over him. Neville and looked up and was briefly surprised to see the two moons on the sky. It was a fascinating scene, though for some reason, the closeness of the two moons made a wave of uneasiness rose up in his chest.

"Probably because I'm not used to this," Neville shook his head and tore his gaze away from the sky. The sight also reminded him that he was in a foreign world, and for a second, his anger flared up. He was still angry at himself for not being able to prevent a foreseeable disaster, and at Harry for not listening to his words of caution.

 _Well, no use crying over spilled milk,_ Neville steeled himself and took a deep breath to calm down. Being angry and sulky would do them no good now. They needed to find a way to get home as soon as possible, or at least a way to send something back, to tell their friends and families that they were still alive and healthy. His heart clenched painfully at the thought of his grandma's reaction when she heard the news that her only grandson had disappeared.

Neville then walked to the back of the house, where he guessed Tania was. Since Harry was talking with Remy, he might as well ask her a few things. The two siblings were pretty much the only people he knew in this village. His walk in the afternoon wasn't as fruitful as he had hoped, since the villagers didn't know that he wasn't a Noble, and were too afraid of him.

In hindsight, that issue could have been fixed easily, but Neville couldn't bring himself to talk with anyone either. The shock and exhaustion from the sudden trip still hadn't left him completely.

After taking the final turn, Neville was disappointed when he didn't find Tania there. He searched around for awhile, and finally found her washing the dishes at a well nearby.

"Need any help?" He walked closer and asked.

"AHH!"

To his surprise, Tania was startled and jumped on the spot. A wet plate flew out of her grip toward his face. Unfortunately, Neville didn't possess Harry's Seeker instinct, so his first reaction wasn't to catch it, but to quickly jump out of the way. The plate barely missed him before hitting the tree behind and shattered into pieces.

"I'm so sorry," Tania was the first one to snap out of it . She ran over and helped Neville up before dusting his clothes. "Are you okay? I didn't hit you, did I?"

"No, it's fine," Neville hastily held up his hands. "It was my fault for startling you like that. Are _you_ okay?"

"Yes, I think…" said Tania, though Neville could still see that she was still panting with a hand over her chest.

"I'm really sorry," he said and pulled out his wand, not missing the way her eyes widened slightly as he did so. He then pointed it at the plate pieces.

" _Reparo."_

In a few seconds, the plate was fixed. Neville then summoned it over, casting a cleaning charm before handing it back to Tania.

"There you go. It's as good as new," he said.

"Wow…" Tania mumbled as she stared at the plate in her hands. "I've seen Harry did a few spells earlier, but your magic really is different from ours."

"In a good way, I hope?"

Tania nodded. She gave him a smile before remembering something and frowned.

"You two are really good at scaring people out of their wit," she said.

"That wasn't intentional, I assure you," Neville sighed. "Did Harry…"

"Yes, I was holding an axe at the time. Luckily, I didn't let go of it back then," Tania shook her head. "You and him don't make any sound when you walk around. That's _really_ creepy."

"We don't?" Neville's eyes widened for a moment before he started laughing. "Sorry again. That was because of our shoes. They have enchantments to prevent them from making noises because of our jobs. I guess we are just used to it and don't pay attention anymore."

"Really? What do you two do back home?" Tania perked up slightly.

"Harry is an Auror. That's what he call our law enforcers," Neville quickly explained as he saw Tania's confused look. "My job isn't as exciting. I'm just a teacher."

"I think it's wonderful," Tania shook her head. "I like working with kids and a teacher sounds really nice. Not that Harry's job is bad, you see… I'm just not good with danger," She hastily added the last part.

"Thanks, that was nice of you," Neville smiled. While it was true that being an Auror sounded much more exciting than a Herbology professor, he had never been jealous of Harry, or even wanted to trade his current job for any other. Still, he appreciated Tania's words.

Besides, people might not realize it, but working with magical plants had a brand of dangers all on its own. Devil's Snare, Mandrake, and many other species had the potential to kill you if you weren't careful enough when being near them.

"I still don't understand," Tania said. "Harry needs to move around in silence, I can see that. But why a teacher…?"

"It's a little silly now that you mention it," Neville chuckled. "I work at a boarding school. The students stay there for the entire term. With all of them being teenagers, you can imagine all sort of things they get up to after curfew. That's why us teachers have to make rounds to patrol the hallways and such. Hiding my footstep is to make sure that the troublemakers can't hear me coming and hide whatever they are doing."

"So it's like that," Tania giggled into her hand. "It seems like you have it hard too."

"Sometimes," Neville shrugged and smiled. "But it's my dream job, so I can't complain."

In truth, Neville had started to silent his shoes way before he became a teacher. During his last year at Hogwarts, the ability to move around undetected was a survival skill that all members of the DA had to learn. But of course, Tania didn't need to know that. Not today anyway.

"So you're a teacher," she nodded, more to herself than to Neville. "What is it that you teach?"

"Herbology," Neville answered. "I teach about magical plants and floras. How to take care of them and their various applications. That kind of stuff."

To his surprise, Tania beamed up at the explanation.

"You must know a lot about plants then," she said. Her gaze locked on him. "I have some knowledge, but it's still a long way before I reach grandma's level."

"I guess you could say that, but only plants from my home country. But even so, I'm nothing compared to my own teacher," Neville scratched his head and gave her a smile. He had seen that look on a few of his more enthusiastic students. "That reminds me, about that mixture that you used to treat Remy earlier. What was that?"

"It's a simple mixture of purple grass and and Srark leaves crushed together and applied on the affected area. Works really well on injuries like twisted ankle and some sorts of bruises, not so much on open wounds."

"Just crushed together..." Neville was taken aback. Making medicine that way wasn't strange by any mean, but the effect was almost instantaneous. "Those two plants that you mentioned, are they hard to find?"

"Not at all," Tania shook her head. "Purple grass can be found all around the village, and there's a lot of Srark tree in the forest. Everyone in the village knows of that mixture. It's nothing special."

To achieve the effect that quickly, those plants had to have some magical properties. And to do so without the need of overly complicated preparation…

Generally, ingredients like those were not easy to come by, or at least expensive, such as bezoar, or Dittany, and the most powerful of them all - Phoenix's tear. Neville was certain that Tania's mixture was nowhere as potent as the above three. However, they were really easy to get, even for a muggle. You literally just have to walk out of your front door to get some.

It was wonderful.

"I see," Neville murmured to himself before turning his attention back to the girl in front of him. "Tania, I hate to be more of a bother, but can I ask you for one more favor?"

"What is it?" Tania asked hesitantly.

"I and Harry probably will leave soon, or at least I hope so," Neville sighed. "While we're still here, can you please teach me about this place's plants and floras? In return I'll give you some samples of our native plants. I'll try to find…"

"Alright."

Tania answered before he could even finish his sentence.

"...some with healing property… Wait. Did you just say 'Alright'?" Neville asked, a little surprised at how easy it was. He didn't expect her to outright refuse him or anything, but still…

"I did," Tania nodded. "It's not everyday that you can exchange knowledge with a teacher in this field. My grandma would be so happy. Are you sure you want me to teach you though? Like I said, I'm not that good yet."

"If your grandma trust you enough to let you take care of the work here all by yourself, then it's enough for me," Neville smiled, and was happy to see the girl in front of him beamed up again.

"Alright then," she said and turned back to the pile of dirty plates and pots. "I still have some dishes to do, so just wait a moment."

"We're doing it now?" Neville raised an eyebrow.

"Eh?" Tania froze on her track. When she turned around to face him again, her face was flushed. She mumbled.

"Sorry, I was just too into it and assumed… You should get some more rest. We can start in the morning."

"That's not what I meant," Neville laughed. "I wish my students were that eager to learn. Some of them come close, but you're a first. Here, let me help you with that then we can start."

A red faced Tania just nodded. The two of them then got to work. With the help of Neville and his magic - mostly his magic - the chore was finished in a flash, leaving the two with a lot of time to talk.

It wasn't until late at night that Neville returned to the room that he and Harry were borrowing. Despite her humble excuse, Tania still knew a lot about the local plants, and Neville had asked her to teach him again in the morning.

He also didn't forget to ask her about the magic that brought them here, but much to his disappointment, she didn't know anything, and had already told Harry everything she could.

* * *

Harry was waken from his nap at the sound of the door being shut. When he returned to the room after the talk with Remy, Neville hadn't come back yet, so he lied on his bed and waited for his friend, only to nod off somewhere along the way.

"Neville?" He asked groggily.

"Yeah, I'm back. Sorry for waking you," Neville said while walking toward his own bed.

"It's fine. I didn't plan on sleeping anyway," Harry shook his head and sat up. "Where have you been? What time it is now?"

"No idea, but probably late. I don't know how time works here, so I can't sync my watch," Neville shrugged. He then pulled out several bags from his robe as well as a couple of them on the nightstand before laying them all over his bed. "And I was talking with Tania about the local plants. I also asked her about our situation, but apparently she has told you everything. Something about a magic Academy."

"That she did," Harry nodded as he walked over and peered over his friend's shoulder. "What are you doing?"

"Checking to see what I have brought over," Neville scratched his head and grimaced. "As you can see, there is a lot. I did some shopping and met with Professor Sprout before seeing you at Fortescue's."

"So most of these are plants?" Harry asked.

"Seeds," said Neville. "I need to replace some plants in Hogwarts' and my greenhouse. These are what I bought," he pointed at three silk bags on his left. "Some Dittany, Moondew, a couple of Mandrakes and Gillyweed. Overall useful stuff in healing and antidotes."

"How about those?" Harry asked, pointing at two bags on Neville's right. Truth be told, he was rather impressed. If they could somehow find a place for Neville to grow what he brought with him, their time here would be a lot easier.

"Well here, see for yourself," Neville shrugged and reached into a bag. He then took out a small pot containing some soft, springy tendrils and vines. Harry, of course, recognized it on sight.

"Devil's Snare? Are you planning to grow that?" He frowned.

"Not at Hogwarts," Neville grimaced and batted one of the vines away from his wrist. "Honestly, I'm not sure if this is even Devil's Snare. It was mixed in one of Professor Sprout's order. She said there was something different about this plant but didn't want to risk it. I came right before she threw this into the fire and asked to let me take care of it. In a very safe environment of course."

"And you lectured me about my recklessness," Harry hid his face into his hand. He might be reckless, but when it came to Herbology, Neville was on an entirely different level.

"We're all crazy about something, I guess," Neville gave him a sheepish smile and put the 'maybe' Devil's Snare back into the charmed bag before reaching for the other one. "These are the reason that I came to Professor Sprout."

"Bamboo shoots?" Harry had to look at it twice before speaking. For the life of him he couldn't understand why Professor Sprout would want to give her protege some bamboo shoots.

"Bamboo shoots," Neville nodded with a grin. The git was thoroughly enjoying Harry's confusion. The staring contest went on for a few seconds before Harry couldn't take it anymore and groaned.

"Just tell me what so special about those bloody things already."

"Aren't Aurors supposed to be patient. How else are you going to handle long stakeouts?" Neville laughed.

"This isn't a stakeout," Harry huffed.

"But you can…"

"Neville…"

"...always have some…"

"...I swear I will…"

"...practice."

"...hex you until the next Wednesday."

"Alright, alright, they grow really fast, okay?" Neville laughed as he deflected Harry's Tickling Hex with his wand before returning a Jelly-Legs Jinx of his own. Harry dodged the spell and disarmed him in one smooth move before he could put the Shield Charm up. Too bad for Neville, he couldn't get out of the way since he was sitting down.

"Auror's training," Harry grinned smugly as he threw Neville's wand back to him.

"Show off," Neville mumbled under his breath, but on his face was a big smile. Harry was relieved. No matter what Neville said, he could feel that the air between them was still a little strained, but the mock duel just then had managed to lift some weight off of their shoulders.

"But seriously though, how fast are we talking about here?" Harry asked as he put away his wand.

"Around five seconds," Neville gave the bamboo shoots a fond look. "You plop it down somewhere and tap it with your wand. Tik tok tik tok, then 'Boom', you have a fully grown bamboo."

"Neat," Harry whistled.

"Isn't it?" Neville grinned. "Well, the bamboo itself has little use, but Professor Sprout was hoping that I can bring this property over to other plants and make them grow super fast too."

"Can you?"

"I don't know, but I'm willing to try as soon as we get back," he shrugged. "The gain is big, and for now I see no downside."

"Right," Harry nodded. If the Herbologist of the group had said so, he neither had the reason, nor the knowledge, to say otherwise. "What about that last bag?"

"Bezoars," said Neville as he emptied the content of said bag onto his open palm. "Some of my plants are poisonous, and they can get rather… active sometimes. Never hurt to have some on your person."

"And I'm glad you do," Harry grinned. "You sure are well prepared."

"For this? No more prepared than you do," Neville motioned his hand around the room they were in and sighed. "Except from the Bezoars, all of these are purely coincidence. I'm not even sure if we can get any use out of them here. Anyway, what did you bring?"

"All three Deathly Hallow, and around fifty Galleons" Harry said. "If we can somehow sell those coins then I can take care of our finance for awhile. Remy said that he would hook me up with a trading caravan that usually goes through here."

"Sounds good," Neville started to put the bags away. "All these purchases left me with two Galleons and three Sickles, so I won't be of much help there."

With a nod, Harry then come back to his bed and threw himself on it.

"That won't happen for a few days though," he said, staring at the wooden ceiling. Harry knew that Neville was going to stick with him, but it was a good idea to discuss their future plan with him.. "Remy also told me that the caravan would go all the way to the magic Academy. What do you think? Should we catch a ride and seek out chance over there?"

"That's what I think as well," came Neville's answer. "A magic school is perfect. Though I do wonder if we can find anything in the capital city. Tania told me that the road would take us through it."

"Maybe?" Harry frowned. "Though I don't have much hope there. The Academy _should_ have all kind of knowledge that the capital has. I'm afraid that we will waste our time if we stop to look around."

A small 'Hmm…' was all he heard from Neville's side. Then there was silence. Neville was thinking about it, and Harry didn't want to rush his friend. He just lied there, fiddling with his wand while waiting for the answer.

"I still think it's good to at least ask around," finally, the answer came. "We don't have to stay in the capital for too long. Maybe just a day or two. I know you don't want to waste time, but…" Neville shook his head and sighed. "For once, I don't think this Academy is going to have all the knowledge, especially the more obscure ones."

"What makes you think that?"

"Old families tend to keep those kind of knowledge to themselves," he shrugged. "I know for a fact that there were some spells and ancient rituals that are mentioned in our library but aren't in Hogwarts'."

"Now that you talk about it, there was also something like that in the Blacks' library. Though most of them were ranging from mildly disturbing to the darkest of dark," said Harry, thinking back on the days that he spent to clear out the house that his late Godfather left him and stumbled upon a library. Up until this day, the knowledge in some of the books there still caused a shiver to run down his spine.

"I can only imagine," came Neville's snicker.

"I can see your point," Harry nodded. "But if there really are some family with 'obscure' knowledge that they don't share with the Academy, they certainly aren't going to share with us either."

"We don't need them to. Not right away anyway. Think of them as back up plans in case the trip to the Academy is a failure."

"Fair enough," Harry said after thinking it over for awhile. He certainly didn't think of it that way. "If you put it like that, I guess we can stay for a day or two."

Neville just nodded. Now that a plan, despite being rather vague, was in place, all they could do was to wait for the trading caravan's arrival and hoped that nothing else would happen to muck everything up.

The two of them spent some more time chatting about their friends and families back home before breaking it off and got some sleep.

 _There is a long way before we can get home at this rate…_ Was Harry's last thought before drifting off. No matter what, he was going to bring both of them home. He had defeated the vilest Dark Lord of the last few centuries, survived the Killing Curse, and 'technically' returned from the dead. Being lost, even on another world, was nothing he couldn't handle.

* * *

The following morning, Harry was subjected to a rather rude awakening. He was in a deep slumber when the door to his and Neville's room bursted open, admitting a frantic Remy. The man looked around the room in panic before spotting Harry's sleeping form and rushed over.

Needless to say, sneaking up, or charging at a sleeping Auror was never a good idea to begin with. Soon, Remy found himself coming face to face with the pointy end of a wand, and just a second later, he dropped to the ground like a plank, unable to move any part of his body except for his eyes and mouth.

"It's me, Harry. It's me," he pleaded quickly as Harry rose groggily from his bed.

"Remy?" Asked Harry as he lazily summoned his glasses from the nightstand, which flew toward him and slid perfectly on his face. It had taken him weeks of practice to be able to do so without poking his own eyes.

"Yes, now please release me if you're awake."

"Right," Harry nodded and cast a silent _'Finite'_ at the poor man on the ground. After regaining control of himself, Remy stood up with a grimace while giving his body an once over, to see if there was any weird damage.

"Seriously. What in the Brimir's name was that?"

"Full Body-bind Curse," Harry shrugged and gave Remy a sheepish grin. "Sorry about that. I don't react well to people sneaking up on me while I'm sleeping."

"What part of that was 'sneaking'?" Remy waved his hand around in an exaggerated manner. "I was just short of kicking the door down on my way in. Anyway, enough about me. You need to get to the village's entrance now."

"What happened?" Harry frowned when he noticed Remy's solemn expression.

"I'm not sure," Remy sighed, massaging his forehead. "Count Abeau's men are here, and they are asking for you and Neville."

"Who is Count Abeau? And how does he know about us?"

"He's the ruling Noble of this place," he looked away nervously. "As for the later question. I guess they just asked around. You didn't exactly tell anyone to keep quiet, no?"

"I guess," Harry sighed. "But how did they know to come asking in the first place?"

"Looks, do I look like someone who knows how those conceited Nobles work?" Remy shook his head. "But I _do_ know that you shouldn't keep them waiting for long."

"If you say so," said Harry. He didn't exactly like they way they were being 'summoned', but he would rather not cause his caretakers anymore trouble. "So where's Neville? Does he know about this?"

"Not yet. He and Tania went into the forest early in the morning. Something about studying the plants in there. You go first, I'll go look for them."

"No need," he said and raised his wand before focusing on a happy memory. It didn't need to be a particularly strong memory, since there was no Dementor around. _"Expecto Patronum!"_

A blinding white stag came charging out of the tip of his wand. It galloped a few laps around the small room they were in, before coming to a halt in front of Harry and started to rub against his face.

"Hey Prongs. It's been awhile," Harry laughed at the Patronus' antic. "I need you to deliver a message for me. Tell Neville Longbottom this: 'Meet me at the village's entrance right away. It's urgent.'."

It only took the stag a second to absorb the message. It then nodded.

"Good. I know we're in an unfamiliar land. You can find him, right?"

The stag nodded again. Seeing that there were no more question or request, it turned to the direction of the forest and charged off, phasing through the wall, leaving behind Harry and a stunned Remy. The latter was busy gaping at the place where Prongs had occupied just a few seconds before.

"It's a Patronus," said Harry as he started donning his robe.

"You said it like that explained everything," Remy retorted in a loud voice. "What the heck is a Patronus?"

"An essence of happy memories that materialized to protect you from some dark creatures," Harry shrugged after finishing dressing and cast a cleaning charm on himself. "Also used to send messages."

"What?" Asked a gobsmacked Remy as Harry rushed past him toward the door.

"Come on. I thought we were in a hurry?" Called Harry without looking back. He was too busy to figure out just what in Merlin's name had happened this time, and how it would affect their plan.

 _Just what I need…_ He sighed inwardly. _The way home just seemed a lot longer all of a sudden._

 **End of Chapter 2.**


	3. Chapter 3

A large crowd had already gathered by the time Harry arrived at the village entrance. There wasn't any chatter. Everybody's attention was focused on something in front of them that Harry couldn't see. As he got closer, some of the villagers spotted him, and with a hushed whisper, they parted to the sides, clearing a path for him to go through.

Harry fought back a grimace. None of them were meeting his eyes. They only glanced at him and turned away when they saw him looking. The fear in their eyes were almost unbearable.

Harry sighed and pushed forward. Remy followed right behind him. At the entrance proper, with his back to Harry, was an old man in plain brown clothing. In front of him were a small platoon of mounted knights. Every single one of them was wearing metal helmet that hid their faces, with the exception of the one in front, who was talking with the old man.

"That is the chief of this village. And the knights are from Count Abeau's mansion. They've been here a few times," Remy whispered. Harry replied him with a nod.

From his appearance, Harry guessed that the knight in front was only a few years older than him. He was almost as tall as Ron, and has short wavy cyan hair. Aside from his shiny armor and the weird sword on his hip, Harry could see that the air around him, and the way he carried himself, was different from everyone else in the village. He was confident, and there was some grace in the way he moved.

Still, it was evident that he was looking down on the village chief.

 _So this is a Noble,_ thought Harry as he walked closer. Noticing his arrival, the knight looked up. His eyes widened slightly before he dismounted and walked past the chief without sparing the old man a second look.

"Are you the Noble who recently came to Asburg?" Asked the knight while subtly giving Harry an once over.

"I am. Is there any problem?" Harry raised an eyebrow at the abrupt question. He decided not to correct him on the 'Noble' part. If the rumors about Count Abeau's treatment to the commoners were the truth, he would be stripping himself of his own advantage by doing so.

"Do you have any proof that you can use magic?" The knight continued, ignoring the question. "Count Abeau wants to invite the Nobles to join him for tea this afternoon, and I don't want to anger him by bringing back the wrong person. Besides, I was under the impression that there were two of you."

"Neville should come along shortly," said Harry as he waved his phoenix wand, conjuring a series of Bluebell Flames jets on the air around him. He let the spell linger for a few seconds before vanishing it with a silent _Finite._

"A fire mage. Though I have to admit that I haven't seen blue flame before. Is that a new spell?" the knight nodded, and to Harry's surprise, his cold facial features warmed up. He smiled and bowed his head deeper. "Please forgive my rudeness. I am Levett, a knight serving under Count Abeau."

"My name is Harry Potter," Harry awkwardly bowed in return, not being entirely sure if that's the correct response. "Now I believe that you said something about an invitation for tea? Why us?"

"He wanted to greet our newest guests," Levett straightened up.

"And…?"

"And he also has a few questions about the… disturbance the day before," he continued. The smile never left his face.

"What disturbance?" Harry perked up. Did Neville do something that he didn't know about?

"A huge explosion of magical energy happened around here," Levett was clearly surprised that Harry didn't know. "It could be felt all the way back at Count Abeau's mansion, which is several hours from here on horseback. Yesterday, we sent some scouts to ask around, and discovered that right after the incident, you and another Noble were discovered outside of this village."

"Ah… That explains it. We were unconscious."

"It seems like the one who reported to us forgot that little detail," Levett blinked. "But it doesn't matter. Your presences are expected as soon as possible. If you accept the invitation, I suggest we start moving at your earliest convenience."

"This is a little sudden," Harry sighed. "Does it have to be today?"

"Yes. Count Abeau is a very busy person and occasions like this doesn't come very often."

"Is it okay if I come alone?" He asked, not missing the ghost of an annoyed frown on Levett's face. "My friend's attending to some personal business. I'm afraid that he wouldn't be able to free up some time on such short notice."

"That… would be acceptable. My Count wants to invite both of you, but if only you can come, then so be it." Levett said in a resigned tone. Suddenly, his face contorted into a grimace as he hissed in pain for a moment.

"Are you alright?" Harry took a step forward to check on Levett but the knight stopped him.

"I'm… fine, just a minor headache. Maybe it's because I stayed up too late last night. It's nothing to concern yourself with. Are you ready to go?"

"Actually, not yet," Harry said. "Can you and your troops wait for awhile? I also need to take care of some business. We should be ready in about twenty minutes."

"Of course. Please be on time," the knight nodded. Despite him saying that he was fine, Levett was still looking a little green and could use a little rest.

"I will," said Harry as he turned and walked away with a brisk pace. Remy once again on his heel. Harry needed to meet up with his friend before Neville showed his face. He was supposed to be busy after all. With any luck, and if Harry's guess was right, being not very familiar with the village, Neville would choose to apparate to a safe spot, most likely somewhere near Tania's house, before walking the rest of the way to the entrance.

* * *

Harry was right. He and Neville almost ran into each other as he rounded a corner near the village's biggest farm. They braced themselves in time to prevent an accident, but the ones who were following them weren't that lucky. Remy crashed against Harry's back, while Tania did the same on Neville's.

"Ouch!"

"What was that, Harry? At least give me a warning."

The siblings said at the same time.

"Sorry," said Harry as he looked at Neville. "It's good that we run into each other before you arrive at the entrance. We need to talk. Let's go back to Tania's place."

From the look on his face, Neville obviously wanted to ask some question. But he held himself back, and only replied with a nod.

"Tania," Harry told the siblings. "We're going to apparate back to your house, so hold onto Neville's arm. Remy, you're with me."

Apparently, Neville already took Tania on a side-along when they came back from the forest, since her face paled considerably to match her brother's current color when the word 'apparate' was mentioned. None of them objected, however. They just gulped in unison before grabbing the lower arm of their respective partner. A second later, their group of four appeared inside Tania's living room, where she and her brother slumped onto the nearest chair. Harry looked at them with a small smile, remembering his first ever side-along. The sensation was horrible. It only felt a little better if you're doing the apparating yourself, since you knew what was going to happen, and could entirely control it.

"Does… everyone travel that way… where you two come from?" Asked Remy, who looked like he wanted to puke.

"Most of us does," Neville nodded while conjuring a cup of water for both of them. "I know it feel terrible, but it's fast and convenient. You'll get used to the sensation after awhile."

"I don't think I even want to," Remy mumbled, looking a little better after downing his cup in one go. From the nearby seat, his sister nodded in agreement.

"And we'll see about that," Neville smirked and turned to Harry. "So, what's going on?"

"Well…" Harry hesitated, trying to choose his words before speaking. Eventually, he told Neville and Tania about Abeau's invitation and his decision regarding it. As Harry had already predicted, Neville wasn't happy. His frown got deeper as the story went on, and by the time it was finished, he was almost glaring at Harry.

"So you decided to go alone? Why? Actually, why even agreed at all?"

"Because… This is rather awkward, since I haven't told anyone, but I'm practicing Legilimency," said Harry as he looked at Neville's expression, which was gradually changing from angry to shock, then confused.

"Since when?"

"One year ago, it's a special part of Auror training, offered to the ones who were deemed to have an aptitude with the art. I was invited, but let's talk about that later, we're running out of time," Harry shook his head to cut off Neville's question, before taking a deep breath and continued. "Anyway, one thing that was drilled into our heads during training was 'Don't abuse the power, but don't hesitate to use it when in doubt.'. That was what I did. Levett brought with him a small army just to deliver an invitation made me suspicious."

"I would say that's a little paranoid, since we don't know how they do things here, but go on," Neville nodded.

"A little, yes, but I'm not turning into Moody anytime soon," Harry chuckled. "But it looks like my paranoia serves us well this time. I used a little Legilimency on him, trying to read his intention, and surprise, surprise, he wants to harm us, so I dug a little deeper, caused him a headache, and withdrew before it got too bad."

"And what did you find? Get to the point. I thought we were running out of time?" Neville tapped his foot impatiently.

"He wants to harm us, all of us. You, me, and this village."

"What? Why?" Remy almost shouted as he sprang up from his seat.

"I wasn't able to figure out," Harry shook his head. "He wants to take me and Neville away from the village before executing his plan. A band of troops disguised as bandits will attack this place after I left."

"So you want me to remain behind to protect the village," said Neville. "Still, you don't have to go at all, no?"

"I have to. If we both stayed, he might postpone the plan, and you're thinking that's a good thing," Harry raised an eyebrow questioningly as Neville nodded. "Think about it. We're not going to stay here forever, Neville. In fact, according to our plan, we will be gone in a couple of days. What will happen to Asburg then? I have to confront Levett, and possibly Abeau too, to stop this for good."

"I don't like it," finally, Neville sighed, but made no comment to change Harry's mind.

"Me neither," Harry patted his friend's shoulder. "I should go, but don't worry about me too much, I'm alone, so I can apparate out if things get too dicey. Just focus on your end, and send me a Patronus if something happens."

"Alright, good luck, and be careful. Ron and Hermione will chew my head off if I return without you, so don't make that happen."

"I won't," Harry smiled and said goodbye to the other three before leaving. Despite what he said to his friends, he was still a little nervous, knowing full well that he was walking into a trap. There were too many unknown for him to be at ease, but there was no going back now.

* * *

After meeting up with Levett, they left for Abeau's mansion immediately. As a guest, Harry was offered to stay in a luxury carriage with gold trim and intricate decoration. It was actually quite interesting to inspect the interior carvings, and figure out if the bench inside was charmed to be softer or not, so Harry indulged himself in those activities to kill the time, as well as to ward off his nervousness.

That didn't mean he was careless. During the entire trip, which took a little over three hours by Harry's estimation, he was keeping an eye out for the knights outside, as well as putting up some basic warning charms on the carriage to warn him if someone decided to attack it. He even checked if the carriage was rigged with something harmful, but nothing turned up, much to his relief. After all, no matter how good Harry was, escaping unscatched from something like an exploding carriage for example, would be nearly impossible.

Fortunately, the trip ended without any incident, which partially served to make Harry even more anxious. They stopped in front of a large mansion, which was at least twice the size of Malfoy manor, with a large courtyard and was giving off the ancient vibe familiar to Hogwarts. However, the moment Harry followed Levett inside through the main gate, he was greeted with a strange feeling that made him frown.

 _There is something wrong with his house,_ was Harry's thought as he walked along the long hallway. Levett was next to him, and the rest of the knights behind them. They were strange too. Harry was still expecting them to assault him when he wasn't looking, but so far nothing happened. However, their actions were a bit odd. They were too uniform, and sometimes too precise for it to be natural. He almost didn't notice those things when they were traveling, but now, inside the already strange house, that feeling were amplified several times.

Before Harry could dwell more on his suspicions, they had already arrived at the tea room. Levett wasn't going to enter, so Harry did so alone. It was a room with high ceiling and a long table in the middle. At the end of said table was a rather plump middle aged man in expensive looking clothes that did nothing to help his appearance. Seeing Harry's entrance, he stood up and gave him a wide smile that wouldn't fool any competent adult about the obscure agenda hidden behind.

"Welcome to my mansion, Sir Potter. I'm Count Abeau. I've received words from Levett's courier. It's a shame that your friend can't join us today. Come in and take a seat."

He gestured at the nearest chair on his left.

"It's a very beautiful mansion," Harry nodded as he sat down. "I'm sorry for Neville's absence. Your invitation was a bit too sudden."

"But at least one of you are here," Abeau waved his hand. "I have some questions for you, but before that, let's have some tea. Jessica!"

The door on the side of the room then opened, admitting a maid with long black hair that flowed down the the middle of her back. She was a few years younger than Harry, and was actually the first black haired person that he met since his arrival to this world. However, it didn't take a genius to see that Jessica wasn't happy. For the entire time when she served them tea, she kept her gaze downward and her face expressionless. If it hadn't been for the emotions that Harry saw in her eyes when he was sneaking a peek at her face, he would have sworn that she was under some kind of Imperius.

Jessica served the tea for them as quickly as she could, obviously didn't want to stay in the room longer than necessary. From Abeau's expression, Harry could tell that the Count wasn't happy about how his servant was acting, but said nothing, probably because of the presence of a guest. The silence didn't last long though, as Jessica, while hurriedly on her way out of the room, tripped and fell down. The tea tray she was carrying went down with her, and was shattered on the floor, making a dry, shattering sound that echoed the room.

Harry grimaced.

"You clumsy little brat! Are you trying to embarass me in front of my guest?" Abeau apparently had had enough. He sprang up from his seat, stomping his way toward the fallen maid and roared. He then whipped out his wand, making the maid on the floor shrunk back and shut her eyes, waiting for her punishment to come. But it didn't.

"Please forgive her, Count Abeau," Harry stood up and smiled. In truth, his wand was already out behind his back, and a spell was on the tip of his tongue if Abeau didn't back down. It would be the last resort, since there seemed to be some information to be gained from the Noble. Still, there was no way Harry was going to let a commoner get abused in front of him for something so insignificant that was out of her control.

"It's honestly wasn't such a big deal," he said, keeping the smile firmly in place. Years of interrogating criminals had taught Harry to, to some degree, put a lid on his emotion. Something that he severely lacked as a teen. "I can tell that you have some questions for me, and I for you. Let's not waste time on something so trivial."

Abeau considered his words for a moment before nodding and took a step back. "You heard Sir Potter. Consider yourself lucky. Clean that mess up and get out of my sight."

As silent as she came, Jessica hastily gathered all the broken pieces and wiped the puddle on the floor before exiting the room.

"Don't know why I even bothered to take her," Abeau sneered and sat back down. "Saw that brat a few days ago on a trip to the Capital, couldn't help but ordered her to come and serve me. She just arrived today. Well, at least she's pretty for a commoner. I'm looking forward to tonight."

"I'm sure," Harry gritted out his reply, trying his best to focus on the smile and put his wand away. His anger was getting close to the boiling point and his knuckles were turning white under the table. The only thing that kept him from exploding was the thought of how everything would be over, and 'tonight' would never happen once Abeau and Levett went through with their plan.

 _In the worst case scenario, I will just have to bring her out of here myself,_ Harry entertained himself with the idea, feeling his anger gradually subsiding.

"So, what question do you have for me?" Abeau asked. "I would like to hear you out first, maybe it will give me some answers as well."

"Then let's start with the magical explosion that you felt the other day," Harry nodded. "I'm sure you've guessed it yourself, it was caused by our arrival."

"Always good to have confirmation," Abeau sipped on his tea. "How exactly did that happen? What kind of spell did you use to just appear out of nowhere like that?"

"That wasn't our doing. I was hoping that you would know," Harry shook his head. "If it helps, we were messing with a magical artifact, when its surface changed into a smooth, glowing oval shape that sucked us in. We lost consciousness after that. When we woke up, we were already here."

"What kind of artifact?" Abeau leaned forward. His eyes sparkled a little and that creeped Harry out.

"A magical gate, if I have to guess. I'm not sure though. It's function is still a mystery."

"Ahh…" Abeau fell back on his chair. "So its like that. I already have an idea."

"Please elaborate," Harry blinked. While it was true that he had hoped for some answers, to actually get some from someone like Abeau still surprised him. Not that it was wise to judge a person based on appearance, but the Noble sitting in front of him didn't appear to be the studious kind at all. In fact, he looked rather dumb.

Abeau took another sip from his cup before saying. "I don't know about your artifact, nor if it could affect anything, but that glowing shape that you described sounds very similar to the result of a summoning ritual."

"Summon… Are you saying that Neville and I were summoned here?" Harry's eyebrows shot up.

"It's just a guess, but yes, it's very likely."

"But our… country is very far away. Outside of Halkegenia. How does that even work?" Actually it was out of this world, but there was no need to mention that. Just how powerful was this 'summoning ritual', to be able to call forth beings from across worlds like that?

"It just does," Abeau said. "I'm afraid that if you want to know the working behind it, you will have to find a scholar. All I know is that the ritual was invented by our Founder Brimir some thousands years ago, and powerful beasts have been summoned through it. Still… to summon a human being…"

"I guess it's unique?" Harry sighed, stomping down on the urge to roll his eyes. What else could it be, really? If something was strange or unique, it was usually Harry Potter right in the middle of it.

"Very," Abeau nodded. "You and your friend are the second and third known case of human summoning in our history. Since the day of the summoning was just a few days ago, it's possible that another human was summoned and words haven't reached me?" At this point, he couldn't help himself and laughed out loud.

"What's so funny?" Harry frowned.

"I'm sorry," Abeau said, still grinning. "That was a joke. There's no way another human was summoned yesterday. Two on the same day is pushing it already. It's really, really rare. The last known case was, well, Founder Brimir."

"But of course," Harry sighed again and hid his face in his hand. This time, he really wished that he could slam his face against the table surface, repeatedly. "Is there anyway to know who is my summoner?"

"None that I know of, unless you're willing to search all over Halkegenia to see who failed their ritual," Abeau shook his head. "Usually you would appear right next to them. In your case, I guess your summoner mucked it up, or that artifact of yours played a part in doing so."

"Right," Harry nodded, not finding the option attractive in the least. "Is there anyway to reverse the ritual then? To send us back where we came from?"

"Actually… That's a very interesting question," to Harry's surprise, instead of denying it outright, Abeau appeared to be thoughtful for a second. "I think I should look into it. There's a few books on the subjects of summoning in my library. Just wait a second, I will go and fetch them."

 _And… here comes the lie,_ thought Harry. His Legilimency confirmed as much. During the conversation, most of what Abeau said was the truth. There were some omitted details, but the last sentence was just an excuse to get himself out of the room. They were executing their plan.

"There's no need," Harry stood up and whipped out his wand. Abeau was hit with a _Stupefy_ and was summoned into Harry's free arm before he could even react. Almost immediately, the sound of glass breaking rang up around the tea room, and Harry had to duck on instinct, just in time to feel something went over the place where his head was just a second ago. It hit the long table, sending it flying and blew up a good chunk of it, causing the splinters to fly everywhere. When he finally had time to look around, Levett's knights were already jumped in through the broken windows. Their reinforcements arrived right after, kicking down the doors and lined themselves up against the four walls, their spears and swords pointing at Harry in the center.

"I believe you should let the Count go before things escalate, Sir Potter," came Levett's voice. He was the last one to enter. Gone was the smile and the calm expression on his face. It was now replaced by a sly, menacing look.

"With such a warm welcome?" Harry raised an eyebrow, as well as his wand. "No, thank you."

"And I thought that you were wiser," Levett smirked. "If you keep this up, what do you think will happen to that little village that is under the rule of the Count in your arm?"

"Try it then?" Harry said, glancing around the room. It didn't look like they were going to sneak up on him. "If anything happens to Asburg, you can kiss your boss goodbye."

"Ah… I suppose that's true," to Harry's surprise, Levett's smirk didn't even faze. "We will get nowhere like this. How about a trade?"

"I doubt you can offer me anything," Harry snarled at him.

"Don't say that. You haven't even seen the good," Levett clapped his hand. "Bring her in."

The phrase made Harry feel like a ball of lead just dropped inside his stomach. True to his suspicion, a second later, two knights entered, dragging Jessica behind them, who was struggling uselessly against her gag and bindings.

"I watched your conversation with the Count, you know?" Levett said before Harry could open his mouth. "When he was about to punish this commoner, you protected her. I saw you drew your wand. That was when I realized this would be easy. To deal with the filthy commoner lovers, just throw a helpless one in front of them, and they will listen to your demand. Now, the Count. Be thankful that you get to have this maid back."

"You…" Harry gritted his teeth. His anger was bubbling up inside his chest.

"Hurry up," Levett narrowed his eyes before drawing his sword and pressed it against Jessica's neck. Up until now, she had been showing little emotion aside from the glare given to the knights who dragged her around. Now though, after realizing that her life was in danger, she couldn't help but breaking down and let the frightened expression show on her face, while throwing Harry a pleading look.

"Shit," Harry swore under his breath. "Fine, but give her to me first."

"Not a chance," Levett growled. "At the same time. On three. One... Two... Three!"

Having no other choice, Harry shoved the unconscious Abeau toward Levett. At the same time, the knights holding Jessica picked her off of the floor and almost threw her toward Harry. With her arms bound, Jessica stumbled on her way over, but Harry managed to catch her with his free arm, almost losing his balance in the process.

" _Protego!"_ Harry screamed, swiping his wand upward and erected a shield the moment he saw Levett raised his sword-wand out of the corner of his eyes. The transparent wall appeared just in time to intercept three almost invisible lances made of out wind. The bastard was planning to kill both Harry and Jessica in one go.

 _CLANG!_

The lances hit the Shield Charm, shattering it to pieces, but Harry was too busy to notice the small details. All around him, the rest of the knights were closing in, weapons raised. Before he could apparate out, another attack came in the form of a wind blade, forcing him to sidestep instead. Harry had to point his wand over his shoulder and called forth a wall from the ground to block the knights behind him, before casting another Shield Charm to protect Jessica on his side. The maid was now sobbing in fear while tear flowing freely down her face as she latched tightly on Harry's side.

Now it was apparent that her release wasn't out of goodwill or fairness. Levett just wanted something to hinder Harry in the fight.

 _At least I won't have to deal with his wind attacks for now,_ thought Harry as the knight circle around him got tighter, blocking Levett from view. However, the moment that thought popped up, Harry's eyes widened as he threw himself and Jessica flat on the floor as several wind blades rushed at them, cutting the knights on its way to pieces, before doing the same to Harry's wall.

"What the…" Harry was even more shocked as he looked at the hollow inside of the armors in front of him. There wasn't anyone inside of them. They were just like the armors at Hogwarts. Unfortunately, there wasn't time to ponder on the issue as Jessica's shriek pulled his mind back into the fight. Levett, in his moment of confusion, had leaped forward. He was now right on top of them, sword raised, ready to deliver the killing blow.

"Die, commoner lover," the grin on his face was almost feral.

"Not today," Harry snarled back and flicked his wand, throwing his opponent back as hard as he could in a flash of silver light. Judging from the nasty sounds that followed, the landing couldn't be very smooth. But Harry didn't have time to feel smug, since Immediately after, he had to hug Jessica and rolled her to the side to avoid numerous spears raining down from the armors.

Harry retaliated by sweeping his wand overhead in a wide arc, banishing rows of armors backward, crashing them against the wall, at the same time pulling himself and Jessica up into a standing position and thrusted his wand toward them. On his command, countless spears made of stone protruded from the floor, impaling all enemies in front of it, pinning them onto the wall behind. Since the armors were empty, Harry wouldn't have to worry about using lethal means. It wasn't like _Stupefy_ worked on them in the first place anyway.

By the time Harry finished with that side, the rest of the armors had already closed up behind him. Now though, he was no longer surrounded and made a run to the nearest door, Jessica in tow. Harry couldn't let Levett and Abeau run free, so fleeing entirely from the fight wasn't an option, but he needed to drop Jessica off somewhere safe before continuing.

"Stop them!" Came Levett's enraged shout from behind.

" _Protego!"_ Hearing the invisible lances piercing through rows of armors behind his back. Harry hastily cast another shield. Now he was fully aware of the power behind the attack, so instead of meeting them head on, Harry angled his shield to parry the lances instead. There was another dry 'CLANG!' sound when they collided, but his shield wasn't shattered this time. Instead, it redirected the lances, causing them to blow up part of the wall on Harry's side.

Paying his pursuers no more attention, Harry and Jessica fled down the long hallway and took the nearest turn, barely avoided another wind blades barrage. Taking a glance behind and saw that there was no one for the moment, Harry once again reached over and pulled Jessica into a hug, before turning on his heel, apparating both of them out of the mansion.

* * *

 _ **A few hours earlier.**_

"Can you please stop pacing around, Neville? You're making me nervous too," Remy lamented as he watched Neville doing his fiftieth or so round around the living room.

Hearing the man's voice, Neville stopped on his track and looked around until his eyes met Remy, who only shrugged in response. He then looked over at his sister, Tania. She gave him a small smile and patted the empty chair next to her. In the end, Neville sighed, nodded his head and sat down.

"That's better," said Tania as she poured him a cup of hot tea. "I know you're worried about Harry, but pacing around like that won't solve anything."

"Thanks," said Neville as he received the cup from her and sipped on it. "But what else can I do? He's one of my best friends, and now he's going into a trap all alone."

"He knows what he's getting into. Harry himself said as much," Remy said with a frown. "And he told you to stay back and protect us. So it would be nice to do something about that instead of, you know… making us dizzy."

"Remy!" Tania gasped.

"What? I… Nevermind," confronted by his sister, Remy finally shook his head and pushed himself up from his seat. "We don't know what will happen, but I won't sit around and wait. I'm rounding up the guys and set up lookouts around the village.

With that, he grabbed his bow, which was leaning against the wall, and left the house in a hurry, leaving the other two looking after his back in astonishment.

"Your brother is angry at me, huh?" In the end, Neville sighed.

"I think he's just troubled," Tania said. "I don't know how Harry figured out, but hearing that the Nobles want us harm…"

She let her sentence hanging and shivered slightly.

"Just troubled…" Neville repeated her words and found himself unable to believe it. "How do you feel then, Tania?"

"I'm scared," she murmured. "I've seen what Count Abeau could do, and I'm sure that it isn't everything. What will happen to us?"

"Sorry…"

"Why are you apologizing?" Tania gave him a puzzled look.

"The village is in danger because you took us in. It's not that hard to make the connection," Neville said, averting his eyes.

"It's not…"

"But it is. Remy knows that, and I think you realized that too," Neville shook his head, cutting her off. "But it's too late now. Your brother is right. I'm just wasting time sitting around and worry about Harry. I'm going out."

"What are you going to do?" Tania asked as Neville started to head out.

"I have to meet up with Remy first and see how he's planning his lookouts. We will see from there," Neville answered with a shrug.

* * *

"... fine if you don't believe me. Just, please, if you don't, do me a favor and take your family into the forest for the time being."

Neville heard Remy's voice as he walked halfway toward the village entrance. Remy was now standing in front of dozens of men, some around the same age as him, some middle aged. There was even a couple of elders, but they didn't look weak in the least.

"We believe you, Remy. Your grandma and sister have been good to this village, and I personally have never seen you lie about something this serious," one of the elder said and the rest nodded after sharing a look. "So, according to the Nobles staying at your place, Count Abeau is planning to harm us? Why?"

"Probably because we took them in," came Remy's tired voice.

 _So I was right,_ Neville sighed. Without thinking, he'd stepped back behind the corner. He didn't mean to eavesdrop on them, but still…

However, what Remy said next, over the irritated voices of the others, made him perk up.

"Calm down. It's not their fault. They didn't even know who Count Abeau was when they first arrived. One of them is protecting us, while the other sorting things out at the Count's place."

"But how can we trust them? Assuming that you're saying the truth, it's them who brought the Count's wrath on us innocences. If only we didn't bring them back…" One voice protested and several other agreed.

"So you're just going to abandon them on the side of the road like that?" Remy grunted. "Listen here, to be frank, I'm _not_ happy about the consequence, but I know Tania, I know my grandma. Even if they knew about it, they would still take those two in and treat them, and they would do so for any of you here without question. As a family member, I stand with them on this issue."

"Well, if you put it like that…" some of the villagers mumbled, seemingly deflated.

"Look, we can argue until whatever is going to happen, happens. Or we can split up and be on lookout so…"

"Sorry, I'm late," Neville decided that the dangerous part of the discussion was over so he could reveal himself. He stepped out of the corner and headed toward the group. Instantly, Everyone except Remy bowed and mumbled their greeting.

"For the love of Merlin, stop doing that," Neville groaned. "I'm not a Noble."

"You are… not?" One of the two elder spoke dared to look up and asked after a long moment of silence.

"No, neither is my friend Harry," Neville waved his hand. "So please stop acting like I'm above you. Being grouped with that kind of people makes me sick."

"But… the magic…" One of the younger man asked. His eyes were still wide open in surprise, and his expression was still a little fearful.

"It's a long story," Remy jumped to the rescue after giving Neville a look that he couldn't understand. "For now, just know that they're not Nobles. You can call them by name and all that. Can we get back to the topic at hand now?"

"Alright…"

"Fine."

"It's more important, I suppose."

The group nodded their heads and voiced their agreement. Some of them were still stealing glances at Neville. They were still afraid, but that was a step up.

"Good," Remy sighed and scratched his head. "Now listen, according to what Harry told me, there will be a raid on our village. The enemy will be Count Abeau's troops disguised as bandits," he then paused and swept his eyes across the crowd. When no one offered any other idea, he continued. "So we need some of you to take the lookout towers around the village. Some other get to the hunter outposts further outside. If you see anything, light a big fire and we will know. It will give us at least an hour to work with. The rest will stay here to fortify our defense and escort all of the people who can't fight, or don't want to fight, into the forest. In case we fail..."

"We won't," Neville stepped up and said. "Harry entrusted me with your safety, so I will do my best to protect this village."

"So _our Noble_ says," Remy grinned. Some of the men, including Neville, chuckled. "We will leave the towers to the usual guards…"

Three young men and one elder in the group nodded.

"...We will also need two hunters at each outpost, so ten in total, including me. Can we borrow your horses, Noel?"

"Of course, just follow me to our stable," the youngest looking man amongst them nodded.

"Wait a sec," Neville spoke up, drawing the attention to him. "Before we split up, can I borrow some parchments and quills? And some ink too."

One of them agreed and sprinted back to his house, which was nearby. After a few minutes, he returned and handed Neville a stack of parchment, a dozen quills, and a bottle of ink.

"Thank you," Neville smiled at him and received the items before setting them on the ground.

"What are those for?" Remy asked.

"You'll see," Neville grinned before sitting down and pulled out his wand. The piece of magic he was about to do wasn't his forte, but something he learned through Hermione. Now he could cast it, but not without great concentration.

Taking a deep breath, he pointed his wand toward the first parchment and cast a Protean Charm on it, before linking it with seven other. The whole process only took a few minutes, but by the time he was done, beads of sweat already appeared on his forehead. To confirm his success, eight parchments all glowed briefly before returning to their original state.

"Here, each of the lookout group take one parchment and a quill," said Neville as he handed them out. "I've just enchanted them, giving us a better way of communication than fire and smoke. If you write on one of them, the words will appear on the others. Try it."

He then picked up the ink bottle, creating seven more copy and gave them out as well.

Remy couldn't hide his excitement and curiosity, dipped the quill into the ink bottle and wrote his name. All of the spectators gasped in surprise as the word 'Remy' appeared on their parchments.

"This is great," one of them exclaimed.

"I've never seen anything like that," one of the elder mumbled, his eyes wide open. "I've met many Nobles, but to create such artifacts with such ease…"

"You two are full of surprise," Remy chuckled, somewhat used to the bizarre nature of Neville and Harry. Though he too, couldn't completely hide the awe in his eyes. He then clapped his hands together. "Alright people, there will be time to admire all this later. We have jobs to do. The ones who will be on lookout, follow Noel. The rest, please start evacuating the other villagers."

With an unified shout of agreement, the group then dispersed, heading to complete their given tasks. Neville walked with Remy and fourteen other, plus Noel, to get the horses from his house.

"I have to say, I'm surprised," Neville said, observing the determined faces of the men around him.

"With what?" Asked Remy.

"How willing they are to fight. I expected there would be someone who wanted to beg for the Count's mercy instead."

"Everyone in this group knows that won't work. We've tried countless times in the past," Remy shook his head. A pained look flashed across his face but was gone as quick as it came. He then laughed lightly. "But they are all men, and a little hot-blooded, you see. I doubt their family will be that willing. Some of them will have a hard time talking with their wives and parents. But they know this is something we have to do. We aren't foolish enough to seek a fight on our own, but when it's forced on us, we will retaliate."

Neville nodded. He then walked in silence as Remy repeated their plan to his friends. He waited until it was done before speaking up again.

"Sorry for dropping this on you."

Remy blinked at him before sighing. "You should be. But let's not talk about it right now. I still don't know how to feel about it, guess I'll just sort it out after we get rid of this nasty business."

* * *

The plan was set into motion. The lookout groups had gone out for at least an hour, and the villagers who couldn't fight had been evacuated. Just as Remy said, there had been some rather heated arguments and protests against fighting, most of them from the female side. In the end, everything calmed down, and they started working on the village's defense.

They needed barricades, so the men had been gathering wood logs and ropes from all the house and bringing them to the village's square. Neville was going off on his own, Protean parchment in hand, waiting for any report from the lookout groups, while building the Anti-Fire wards on the outermost houses of the village. It was a time consuming progress, since ward building was never a subject that he chose to study. Back at Hogwarts, he did chose Runes and Arithmancy as his electives. Unfortunately, his grades in those two subjects were less than stellar.

"There's no way I'm gonna finish all of this," he lamented to himself after the third house. Anti-Fire was one of the most basic household wards, and the fact that it took him over an hour to do three tiny houses only proved that Neville had to talent in this at all. Still, he did his best. If the attackers tried to set a house on fire and the fire didn't start no matter what, it might give them a pause.

It wasn't until the third hour that something came back from the scouts.

' _It's a raid!'_ were the first words appeared on Neville's parchment. Immediately, he apparated back to the square, where everyone was working. His sudden appearance shocked them, but they all became silent and gathered around him once he announced the news.

' _Around fifty men on horseback from the West, dressed like bandits,'_ was the message from Remy's group.

' _Horse riders from the Northeast. There is a lot of them and I can't count the number."_

Neville summoned the quill and wrote back.

' _Two group that has spotted the enemies can fall back. The rest of the lookout keep at it for another thirty minutes. We don't want any surprise.'_

"Alright, people. We have an hour. Put up the finished barricades. Ready to close the gates once the scouts got in," the remaining elder who wasn't on lookout duty shouted. On his order, the work pace of everyone quickened considerably.

"How many people do we have?" Neville asked him.

"Fifty-two," he answered, the lines on his face deepened into a worried frown. "But we have you on our side, Sir…"

"Just Neville, please," Neville said quickly.

"Are you… Hmm, nevermind. Remy said we can call you by name, and I trust him," the elder nodded. "I'm Victor, the chief of this village."

"Pleased to meet you," Neville gave him a smile. "But… fifty-two. It's just around half of their number."

"And it's all we got," Victor sighed. "We can't make the women or children fight."

"Still… It would be foolish to meet them head on like this."

"Then what do you suggest? I've seen your amazing magic. Is that not enough to drive off the villains who want to kill us?"

"If Harry is here, probably,. He's the fighter. He's trained to fight. Me? I'm just a teacher," Neville sighed. Since Harry had trusted him on this matter, he decided not to bother his friend with a Patronus. Another reason was that It was very loud and flashy while delivering the message. That could screw things up royally for Harry on the receiving end.

"Does that mean…" Victor's face paled. It actually took Neville two full seconds to realize how his words could be interpreted as him giving up.

"No, no," he waved his hands quickly and tried to reassure the chief. "What I want to say is that we need to find another way to avoid direct confrontation. Something to surprise them, seal their movements. Hmm…"

He then fell silent as ideas raced through his mind. Victor seemed to know this, as he gave Neville a firm nod before turning away and joined the other men. During the course of his life, Neville had never faced anything similar to cavalry. His experience about them was limited to the muggle movies that Hermione often make their group watch. According to those, pitching them against archers or rows of long pikes seemed to be rather effective, but there was no way he could use those now. They had to defend two locations at once, with inferior number. Not to mention that those men were all farmer and hunters, not warriors. Also, the archers needed to be well protected to be of any real threat.

 _Hmm… But long pikes..._ He continued to follow that trail of thoughts until his eyes rested on the sharpened, big logs that was going to be used as walls and barricade.

"Maybe we can use those," Neville mumbled as the solution came to him like a light bulb just lit up inside his head. He ran toward the working men and said loud enough for everyone to hear.

"I've got an idea. Please sharpened as many logs as you want and bring them to the two gates that we will need to defend. I will explain the rest there."

"How about the barricades? We stop making them?" Victor asked.

"This will be used for a special kind of barricades. Please hurry up."

The chief gave him a curious look, before turning back to his men and said.

"You heard Neville. He's in charge of our defense, so do what he said."

The next half of the hour was used to do exactly that - sharpening and transporting the logs. Neville and his magic helped a good deal as he could just transform the logs and carry much more than a normal person all by himself. Once they were at the designated point, he sent a message to the scouts to take another route into the village, since they were going to lay a trap.

"So, what are we going to do now?" One of the men asked.

"We are going to bury these logs into the ground, keep them at a high angle and don't spread them too thin," Neville replied. "To save time, don't bury them too deep, I will take care of that once we're done. Be sure to get some into the smaller roads on the sides. We're going to open the gate, let them charge into the village and get caught between the logs before launching our attack."

"But… Aren't they just going to see our trap and stop the charge?" The men asked again, obviously confused.

"They won't. My magic will take care of that," said Neville, trying to project as much confidence into his voice as he could. There was no guarantee that his plan would work, but they couldn't back down anymore.

* * *

Finally, it was time for the battle.

Remy and some other scouts had returned to the village, so Neville let them take charge of the western defense. He will tend to the Northeast. Every remaining villager was equipped with bow and arrows, and hid themselves on top of the nearby houses, which were protected to the best of Neville's ability.

Below, around fifty meters into the village and all the side roads, were logs that were buried and reinforced with magic. As a final touch, Neville also cast Disillusion Charm on each of them, and a minor illusion on the visible holes on the ground. Anyone who wasn't specifically looking for those holes wouldn't be able to see them until it was too late.

Everything was ready, just in time for them to see the cloud of dust kicked up at the skyline, announcing the raiders' arrival.

"They really are coming…" Noel, who joined Neville's side, mumbled. His hands were trembling at the sight of the attackers. He wasn't the only one with that reaction. Though it was hard to blame them. They were only twenty five farmers, huddled up on top of a wooden house, facing off against a small army twice their size.

"We will win," said Neville in a low, but firm voice. "As long as I'm here, victory will be ours. All you have to do is to keep your aim steady when it counts."

"A...Alright," Noel nodded uncertainly.

Neville then returned to watching the incoming horde. The feeling of dread kept rising up within him as they got closer, despite his tough speech. It reminded him of the Battle of Hogwarts. Back then, he was also on the inferior side, with vastly smaller number and firepower, but they prevailed.

 _This time won't be different,_ he told himself and took a deep, calming breath. They were getting close. Neville could hear the sound of hooves hitting the ground, the shouting, and the noises of weapons hitting another, no doubt to frighten the defending side.

"Kill them all!" Came a voice from the enemy side, followed by cruel laughter and shouts of agreement.

"Not yet," Neville said to all the men around him. "Keep yourself hidden, ready your bows and fire on my signal."

Everyone nodded. Their faces were pale and covered in sweat, but their eyes shone with determination.

And finally, it came. It was the sound of panicked horses getting caught on the wooden logs, mixed with surprised, pained screams of horsemen being thrown off their mounts, crashing against each other.

"NOW! _CONFRINGO!_ "

Neville screamed. He was the first one to raise above their cover and sent aBlasting Curse toward the body of the enemies' group. The moment the orange light hit one of the raider, he exploded, bringing down with him several men. It caused even more panic amongst them.

Almost immediately after, a small rain of arrows was released from behind him, creating beautiful arcs in the air before burying themselves into the body of the enemies. Their blood spurted out from the wounds, and a couple of of them were unfortunate enough to get hit square in the eyes. They died without a chance to make a run for their lives.

Watching the scene, Neville almost felt sick. He always found killing to be distasteful. But he steeled himself after just a second. Those people came in here with the intent to kill innocent villagers, who had done no wrong. They were fully prepared to receive the same treatment.

" _Protego!"_ Waving his wand in a big circle, Neville called forth a big transparent shield the moment his enemies regained a little composure. The ones at the back, who weren't caught into the invisible logs, managed to send back a volley of their own. Their faces fell, however, when they saw the arrows bounced off harmlessly when collided with Neville's shield.

"Keep shooting!" He told his comrade. Their number might be small, and their skill might not up to par, but they had better footing, better defense, and higher morale. Not to mention an almost unlimited amount of arrows, since Neville had already duplicated a lot of them before the fight began.

"They were shielding against us and try to take the side roads," Noel said as he released another arrow, which then stuck on one of the raiders' wooden shields.

"Let them!" Neville barked. The side roads also had sharpened logs, so it wasn't a problem, but the shields… The enemy couldn't be allowed to regroup. They needed to keep on reducing their number, forcing them to retreat.

 _Maybe another Confringo,_ thought Neville, but he didn't dare to lower his shield. With the shielders in front, the enemy's archer had been free to send volleys after volleys at his group. If the shield went down now, there was a chance that someone might get hit…

"Aim for the horses! The horses! Make them go berserk!" Behind him, Victor shouted as he made a shot through a horse's neck. It squealed in pain and sprang up, standing on its hind legs. As a result, the rider was thrown off, but his leg was caught on the rein. So when the horse turned around and fled, he was dragged behind it as it trampled on the several others and finally killed.

Everyone cheered at Victor's success and started following his example. For awhile, the tactic caused mass panic within the enemy's ranks, and for a moment, it looked like they were going to retreat. However, even from a distance, Neville could still see a fireball forming within the group that had just gotten out of their attacking range. It kept getting bigger and bigger until it was thrice the size of a Quaffle.

"There's a Noble in their ranks. Get down!" He screamed as the fireball was launched at them with great speed. The moment it collided with the shield, it exploded, shattering his shield instantly and shook the entire house that they were on. Neville himself was flung backward from the pressure and landed on his bum.

"Wh… What was that?" Victor asked from behind cover.

"A fireball! Don't panic. This house can't be burned or brought down that easily," Neville answered and snapped another shield in place, just in time to prevent them from being hit by another volley. At the same time, the house shook violently again from another attack.

"They… they were burning the logs," Noel said after taking a peek above their cover. He was shaking like a leaf. "They can see the trap now since it's coated with their blood."

"We got to do something about that fire mage," Neville grunted. "Everyone retreat to the lower floor. I'm about to lower the shield."

"But…"

"Go!"

Throwing one last look at him, the rest of his group then nodded to each other and went back inside the house. Since the windows were small, they wouldn't be able to keep up the pressure, but that tactic was no longer viable anyway.

"Agh… Shit," Neville cursed. "A Noble… He's obviously their leader. If you're here, then show yourself sooner so we don't have to go through all this, idiot."

With some words of choice about procrastination, he then got rid of the shield right after the last volley, conjuring up a shortsword and sprang back up to his feet. Neville almost lost his balance and fell down again as the house was attacked once more, but he managed to hold on. After that, he turned on his heel.

With a loud 'Pop!' that surprised the enemies, Neville appeared behind them and flicked his wand, banishing all nearby raiders except for his target. The Noble tried to turn around, but was disarmed and frozen before he could do anything. Neville then summoned him over, wrapping his wand arm around his waist and snapped up a shield to cover both of them. His other hand then pressed the sword against the mage's neck.

"Drop your weapons!" He shouted at the frightened enemies in front of him. They were still having trouble believing that their leader could be caught that easily.

"Surrender or I take his life," Neville hissed through his teeth. He imagined that the Noble in his arms would be very frightened right now, but couldn't actually show it, being frozen and all.

Luckily, even without his wish being told, his subordinates seemed to understand just fine. One by one, they lowered their weapons before letting go of them completely. With a swish of his wand, Neville summoned them all into a huge pile at his feet, just to be sure.

He then cast a _Sonorus_ on himself without letting go of the sword.

"The battle is over!" His voice boomed through the whole village, making some of the remaining raiders dropped down to their knees. A couple even fainted. "Your leader had been caught and your force on this side had surrendered. Drop your weapons and we will spare your lives."

It didn't take long for the rest of his group to come out of hiding and tied up the unprotesting enemies on the ground. On his part, Neville stunned his hostage before transfiguring a spear into a length of rope and tied him up as well. Once that was over, he let out a relieved sigh and sat down on the spot.

"Good job, Neville," came Victor's voice. When Neville looked up, he saw the chief smiling down at him. "And thank you. Those were probably the most amazing pieces of magic that I've seen until this day."

"No, this battle is my fault in the first place so…" Neville shook his head and pulled out his parchment. He needed to check on Remy's side.

' _How is it going over there?'_ He wrote and waited with bated breath. The weight in his chest seemed to vanish when just a few seconds later, Remy's reply came.

' _It's over. They surrendered right after your warning. We got a few injured, but no death.'_

"Thanks Merlin," Neville murmured. Suddenly, he felt like all of his strength left him and leaned backward, allowing himself to lie down just like that. A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

They won.

* * *

With a loud 'Pop!', Harry and Jessica appeared on a wide natural road next to a small forest. Unable to keep both of them balanced, Harry allowed himself to fall down and Jessica to fall on top of him.

"Ouch!" He grunted as the girl's weight fell on him without any support. "You alright?"

Still gagged, Jessica couldn't speak, but she looked up at him and nodded. Her face paled from the sudden apparition, but that was to be expected.

"Good, no injury anywhere?"

She shook her head. Harry then reached up and undo both her gag and bindings. Finally being free, Jessica scampered up and crawled her way away from Harry as quickly as she could. Finally, her back hit a tree and she pulled her knees up to her chin, trying to shield herself while giving Harry a frightened look.

"I'm not going to hurt you," he sighed and pushed himself into a sitting position. "Sorry for getting you involved in all that."

"It… It's okay," Jessica replied after a sob.

"What do you mean 'it's okay'?" Harry frowned, finding her answer a bit odd. After all, it was because of him that she almost died.

"The moment those armors came to get me, I realized that I was set up to die," Jessica said in a small voice.

"But… Why?"

"Didn't you notice?" She asked. "There was no one else there besides Count Abeau, Sir Levett, and me. The rest were just those freaky armors…"

"Ahh…." It all clicked in Harry's head. The strange feeling that he felt when he first entered the mansion was because it didn't feel lived in. Sure, the place was cleaned up neatly, but it lacked human warm. "Where is the rest of the servants then?"

"At Count Abeau's main house it seems," Jessica sighed and shivered. "I should have suspected something when they told me that I would be alone here for a few days. I'm the only living commoner who met you there, and I was supposed to die."

"That's unforgivable, what do they think human life is?" Harry growled. "Look, I need to come back to settle the score with them. After that, I will try my best to return you home. So just wait here for awhile, okay?"

"You… You're coming back?" Jessica looked around her fearfully. "And leave me here? Where are we?"

"The road from Asburg to Abeau's place. They brought me through here awhile ago," said Harry as he stood up and started casting a series of security spells that was used when he was on the Horcrux hunt with Ron and Hermione. As a final touch, he drew a circle on the ground, marking the border of the protection. "I was going to bring you straight back to Asburg, but I have to preserve my strength. So, don't come out of this circle. As long as you remain inside, you will be safe. Seriously, don't come out until I come back. You won't be able to find it again from outside."

"But…"

"I will be back. I promise," Harry shook his head. "I just have to deal with those two, or else both you and me, and many others, will be in danger in the future."

In the end, Jessica just nodded without saying anything. Harry conjured up a bottle of water for her before apparating back to the mansion.

* * *

Harry didn't apparate straight into the mansion, but a little away from it. He needed to sort out the information from the previous fight with Levett, and figuring out how he was going to do it this time around.

It was obvious that the mage of this world had a very high attack power and speed. Levett was able to shatter a verbal _Protego_ with only three wind lances. He didn't even need to chant the spell or anything. On the other hand, his attacks weren't all that diverse, with only two types during the entire fight, not counting the melee attempt. The fact that he could only use elemental spells seemed to fit with what Tania told him the previous night about how Abeau only used fire, thus further limiting his choice of offensive spells.

Harry wasn't too sure about it, since it seemed bit rash to come to such a conclusion with only one or two samples. Still, all the evidences so far seemed to point in that direction, and he didn't exactly had a lot of time to ponder. If Levett and Abeau left that mansion, he might not be able to find them again until it was too late.

"So how should I do this?" Harry murmured to himself. If he used the Elder Wand, he could probably match, or even surpass Levett in term of power. But that 'probably' gave him pause. If possible, Harry wanted to test it out in a friendly environment before bringing it into an actual fight. The whole thing about the wand making him invincible was a big load of bullcrap. At least that was what Harry believed, since it was recorded in history that Dumbledore took it away after defeating its former owner - Grindelwald, in a straight up duel. Harry himself also got its loyalty just from disarming Draco Malfoy.

The second option, and Harry liked this one better, was that he used the diversity of the magic from his world to deal with the freaking _Nobles_ \- he chuckled mockingly at the word. After all, there was no need for a fight in the first place, he just needed to subdue them and bring them back for more information. After that, the villagers of Asburg could decide their fate.

From the start, Harry only willingly walked into their trap because he didn't know where Abeau was. Now all of that was no longer necessary.

Having decided on a plan, he cast a _Disillusion_ on himself. Since his shoes were already charmed not to make noise, it wouldn't be a problem. Harry could use the Invisibility Cloak, but a Disillusionment Charm would left him with more freedom to move around. After checking himself out thoroughly, he was confident that no one would be able to spot him unless they were really, really close for them to touch. While Harry didn't have top grades during Disguise and Espionage training back at the DMLE, he was by no mean sloppy.

Harry then made his way toward the mansion, purposely avoiding grassy area in order to prevent his footprints from showing up. When he finally got close enough, he could see a lot of armors searching for him around the house, both inside the yard and outside. Being careful not to touch any of them, Harry slipped through the slightly opened front gate, into the long hallway that he walked by not long ago. A grin formed on his lips when he approached the door to the almost destroyed tea room and heard Levett's voice from inside.

"Finally, you're awake."

"Wh… What happened here?" Came Abeau's confused voice. From the look of it, Harry's _Stupefy_ had just worn off and he was getting back to his feet.

"Potter just escaped with the commoner. I'm sending out search parties to bring them back."

"He escaped?" Abeau shouted. "Useless, the lot of you. What should we do now? What if he gets away and meets the Princess?"

 _The Princess?_ Harry perked up at the new information.

"He couldn't have gotten far, not with that deadweight," Levett replied calmly. "Besides, his friend is still stuck at Asburg, where our troops, disguised as bandits, are attacking. We can pin the blame on them. With a bounty on their heads, there's no way they could even see the Princess, let alone talk with her."

Harry frowned. _I hope Neville is okay. I need to finish this quickly and…_

Before Harry could barge in and stun both of the mages inside, he was forced to jump aside as someone dashed past him. The newcomers looked miserable, with burned and tattered clothing. His face and exposed arms were also covered in cuts and bruises. He almost slammed against the door on his way into the tearoom.

"Sir Levett, Count Abeau," he said between ragged breaths. "We… We lost. The Noble protecting Asburg used some really strange spells and defeated our troops. Sir Vivien is taken hostage. I… I managed to escape and took a shortcut through the forest to get here as fast as possible. We need to mount a rescu… Ugh…"

The courier was cut off before he could finish his sentence, then there was the sound of something heavy hitting the ground. When Harry peeked through the door, he found the man lying on a pool of his own blood. On the other side of the room, Levett was lowering his sword.

"What are you do…" Abeau asked, but he too, wasn't able to completely voice his thought. If Harry was surprised before, he was now utterly shocked at the sight of Levett striking down his own boss.

"W...Why?" Abeau murmured weakly as he gradually sled down the wall. There was now a gaping hole on his chest.

"Because plan A had failed, and _your_ incompetence played a large part in it," said Levett, not at all moved by the horror that he just caused. "You wanted to kill Potter after confirming that he was summoned by the Princess, but wasn't able to. To make it worse, you even got yourself captured," he then let out a dramatic sigh. "I admit that the second part is my fault. I underestimated the other Noble. Now we can no longer quietly erase the Princess's familiars along with the witnesses, so move on to plan B, which is to… Oh, you're no longer listening."

Levett blinked at the lifeless body of his former boss. At this point, Harry decided that he had heard enough, and that it was necessary to capture Levett to figure out what his 'plan B' was. He barged into the room, wand raised.

" _Depulso!"_

Using his strongest Banishing Charm, Harry slammed the surprised Levett against the wall behind, before quickly disarming and stunning him. The remaining armors in the room instantly reacted to the intruder, but Harry made short work of them. Without vastly superior number on their side, they weren't all that much of a threat. He then rushed over to check on Abeau, but it was too late. The Noble had died.

With a sigh, Harry then waved his wand around, sealing up all the entrance into the tea room to prevent the other armors from getting in, before tying up the unconscious Levett.

Now he only need to pick up Jessica on the way before returning to Asburg. It was good to hear that Neville managed to defend the village. With this, they had both accomplished what they set out to do.

"What a day," Harry shook his head as he picked up the knight and apparated out. Right now, he wanted nothing more than to lie down somewhere and sleep until the next day.


	4. Chapter 4

Side-along two people at once was never an easy task, even more so when one of which was out cold and had to be held to a proper standing position. Though for Harry, who had had experience performing said task once or twice a week for an entire year, it was easy. Levett probably lost a hair or ten, but nothing important was damaged.

After picking up Jessica and took down the wards that he had raised over that small clearing, Harry returned to Tania's house, and was treated with an unexpected scene. On one of the chair was Neville, who was covered in dust and a little blood, but otherwise unharmed. He was dozing off, using his hand on the table as support, but sprang to his feet and glanced around the moment he heard the sound of apparition.

On the exact chair that he sat the night before was Remy. The man wasn't as lucky as Neville, if the cut across his bare back was anything to go by. The bleeding had stopped, probably thanks to Neville's healing spell, but it was still showing an angry red color. Remy hissed in pain as his sister dripped some kind of yellow medicine on a piece of cloth, before pressing it over the scar.

"They broke through our defense. We couldn't keep up the pressure without Neville's magic shield. Though his victory on the other side saved our arses," he said in lieu of greeting, not at all surprised to see Harry popped into his living room.

"It was really close," Neville sighed and dropped back down. "I see you've brought back some friends."

"Yeah. This is Jessica, a maid at Abeau's," Harry showed his friend a tired grin. Next to him, the girl in question was still a little green from the apparition, but her eyes were roaming around the room, trying to figure out their location. A lot of tension left her body the moment she realized that the people in the room were Harry's acquaintances.

"And this is Levett. The git who picked me up this morning," Harry waved his wand, levitating the unconscious knight into the nearest chair. Several lengths of rope appeared out of thin air and started coiling themselves around his ankles, wrists and body.

"Uhm… Hello?" Jessica gave everyone else in the room an awkward smile, not sure what to do after intruding on a group of strangers, in their own home. Luckily, Tania came to her rescue.

"Don't need to be so stiff," she smiled while wrapping a layer of bandage around her brother's torso, ignoring his cry of 'I can do it myself.'. "Come sit down. Are you injured anywhere?"

"No," Jessica did as she was told. "There are some bruises on my legs when they dragged me around, but Sir Potter saved me before…"

Her sentence was cut off by a groan from Harry and three snickers from the rest of the residents. She glanced at them as her cheeks took on a faint pink shade.

"Did I say anything wrong?"

"Nothing," an amused grin tugged at Neville's mouth. "It's just strange that 'Sir Potter' here hasn't told you that he isn't a Noble yet."

"But… he uses magic?"

"So do I. But we both come from a faraway land, so Halkegenia's concept of nobility doesn't apply to us. I know it's a little strange, but please bear with it."

"Okay," Jessica nodded, but her expression told Harry that she wasn't entirely convinced. It didn't bothered him though, since those kind of things took time to get used to, and it wasn't like they would have many chance to converse after he dropped her off at her house anyway. That reminded him…

"Where are you from, Jessica?" He asked, taking the last empty chair for himself.

"The Capital. My father runs an inn there."

Harry and Neville shared a look before he smiled at the girl. "What a coincidence. We're also planning to go to the Capital. But we can't just pop you over like I just did though, since we've never been there before."

"If you don't mind waiting for a few days, we plan to catch a ride with the trading caravan that will go through here. You can go with us," Neville continued in place of Harry.

Jessica's face fell for a moment, probably because she had hoped to be able to see her family right away, but she soon recovered and nodded. "Thank you."

"If you're staying here for a few days, it's best to head to the inn. It's a small and probably can't be compared to your father's, but I guarantee that the food is to die for," Remy grinned. His treatment had finished and he had put his shirt back on, and was now wearing a dreamy look as he talked.

"But I don't have any money," Jessica said. "All of my belongings was left behind at the mansion."

"I'll go back there in the evening and retrieve them for you, just tell me where you left them," said Harry. While he didn't really want to make such a long jump so soon after being exhausted, it was kind of his fault in the first place not to ask Jessica about her possessions. He figured the return trip would be safe though. The armors weren't a problem, and if there was no other living being inside the mansion, it would still be awhile until anyone related to Abeau noticed that he went missing.

"Just take a rest for now," Tania, who had left the room to wash up some time during their conversation, returned through the front door. "I can lend you my room for the moment. Normally I would give you a room at the infirmary but it's kinda crowded right now, and the patients are all men, so it might be uncomfortable. Come on, I will treat your bruises and those rope marks on your wrists."

After that, the two girls exited the room once more, going further into the house. That left the men with another important subject to talk about.

Neville flicked his head toward the unconscious knight. "What's with pretty boy over there?"

Harry answered the question by telling the other two about his day, from the moment he entered Abeau's mansion, to the discussion about the summoning ritual and how he was attacked afterward. It ended with Levett killing his own boss before Harry barged into the room and captured him.

By the end of the story, the entire room was silent as Remy and Neville were too busy listening with rasp attention. The former was now in a state of utter shock. His eyes were wide open in a manner that remind Harry of Dobby, and his jaw was slacked. Neville recovered from his shock sooner, and his forehead was now creasing into a thoughtful frown.

"We were summoned? And by the Princess of this country? Do you know how ridiculous that sounds?" He asked. There were still traces of disbelief in his voice. "But then again, it's true that we are now in another world, and I can't offer any better explanation."

"Yes, yes, and yes. It was what they said, and if they are willing to kill us over it, it may be the truth," Harry sighed, understanding too well what his friend was going through, since he just experienced those feelings himself just a few hours ago.

"Wow…" Neville murmured and leaned back in his chair while massaging his forehead.

"Wow indeed," Harry nodded. "I don't know what will come of it, but I think we should try and meet this Princess once we get to the Capital."

"But how? She's a _Princess,_ Harry. You can't just go over and ask to see her."

"We will think of something after getting there," said Harry. There were still too many unknowns for them to draw up any kind of concrete plan. "For now, I'd like to get some more information from Levett. Their plan A had failed with Asburg's victory earlier, but he mentioned 'Plan B'..."

"Are you going to use Legilimency on him?" Asked Neville with a distasteful grimace.

"Quicker that way," Harry sighed. "Remy? You might want to step outside while I'm doing this. I still haven't mastered this spell yet and it can be unpleasant to watch."

Hearing his name called, Remy snapped out of his daze. His gaze trailed from Harry to Neville before settling on the unconscious Levett.

"Are… Are you going to torture him or something?"

"No, I'm just going to pull some information directly from his head. Yes, you can call it mind reading," Harry answered, already anticipated the next question by the look on Remy's face. "And no, I have never used it against you or Tania. I never will, not without your permission. Besides, you will know right away if I use it to get any notable thought. Remember Levett's headache this morning?"

Remy nodded, still eyeing him suspiciously.

"That's just for a little bit of information. He's going to receive a lot worse than that once I'm done with him," Harry sighed. While Remy's reaction was a completely understandable one, seeing how they just met each other the previous day, it was still troublesome. He didn't want to alienate someone who helped him and Neville so much. "Look, I don't want to do it to anyone if I can help it, but since you and Tania are my benefactors, I have to try and get the information that can potentially save the two of you, as well as this village."

"Harry is telling the truth. I know it's not much, but I vouch for him," Neville came to his rescue. "I've been friends with this bloke for years, and he's not the kind to violate the mind of others just because."

"But he did so to that knight when they first met, didn't he? Just because he's a little paranoid," Remy gestured toward Levett and took a step away from Harry.

"And his suspicion played a large part in saving this place today," Neville folded his arms in front on his chest and glared at Remy. "I've gone to school with him for seven years and fought alongside him in a war. Trust me, when he tells you someone is suspicious, they often are."

"Exactly, you're his buddy, of course you're going to stick up for him. How can I know that you're telling the truth? I can't read mind like you do."

"I can't…"

"That's enough! This is going nowhere," seeing how the argument was just going to escalate from there, Harry decided to put his foot down. "Thank you Neville, but Remy has his right to be suspicious."

"Thank you," Remy quipped, a little more dramatic in his gesture than necessary.

"And Remy, I'm sorry that my ability makes you feel that way. So for now, let's just get this over with. Once we get the information, Neville and I will leave you and your sister alone. With our magic, we can make a secure camp out of the village to stay for a few days until the caravan arrives. Sounds good?"

"That's… fine," at his words, Remy seemed to deflate. He actually looked lost for a moment before his eyes narrowed down again. "But I'm staying for this. If he can give us the information about my village, I want to be involved."

"Suit yourself," Harry shrugged and stood up. "You still good, Neville?"

Neville nodded.

"Then help me put up some silencing charms on this room. The spell will make Levett scream a lot, and I don't want anyone outside to think that we're torturing a poor soul in here."

Once all the spells were in place, Harry walked up to Levett while the other two remained behind. Neville was once again tapping his foot in anticipation, while Remy looked like he was starting to regret his decision to stay.

After taking a deep breath, Harry pointed his wand at Levett. _"Rennervate."_

As the effect of the stunning spell faded, the knight slowly opened his eyes. Still being in a disoriented state, it took him a few seconds to throw a dazed glance around the room before his eyes finally met Harry's.

"You…"

" _Legilimens,"_ Harry chanted before he could say anything. Instantly, he found himself drawn closer, and finally into Levett's mind. Due to his poor skill, Harry wouldn't be able to linger for long, not without messing up his target's mental state, possibly causing him to go crazy. It wasn't what he desired for anyone, not even his worst enemy.

So he acted quickly, calling to the forefront any memory, thought, or idea that was linked to him, Neville, Abeau and Asburg. There was a lot of them, but they were all very recent, starting from the moment Levett received the report of the strange arrival of two 'Nobles'. Without wasting anymore time, he started to review them one by one. By the time he finished with the last memory, Harry could almost hear the sound of his own plans breaking into pieces around him as he pulled out of Levett's mind.

"Harry, are you okay?" Came Neville's voice as Harry fell backward and landed hard on his bum. It wasn't until then that Harry realized he was breathing like an athlete after running a long marathon. His body was drenched in sweat, making his shirt, and even his robe become sticky.

"Yeah… Yeah… I'm fine," he answered absent-mindedly. His gaze were still glued to Levett, whose eyes were now showing the white part, while a trail of drool dripping out of the corner of his mouth.

"H… How about him?" Asked Remy as he took a hesitant step forward and started to inspect the knight. "He screamed so much. Are you sure you didn't just torture his mind or something?"

"He's… fine," said Harry, feeling an incoming headache of his own. "I overstayed my welcome, so he will act a little out of it for a few days, but he will recover."

"That's good then," Neville let out a relieved sigh as he stunned Levett again before conjuring some water for Harry. "What did you find? It can't be anything good, is it? I can see it on your face."

"No, I'm afraid not," Harry shook his head, but regretted it immediately. He then pushed himself up and into the nearest chair. "Levett's 'Plan B' is worse than I thought. Worse still, it's already in motion. We're too late."

"What do you mean?"

"First, his 'Plan A' is to confirm whether or not we are really summoned by the Princess, though it's mostly to satisfy Abeau's curiosity. After that, they will get rid of us and anyone who has seen us, namely the Asburg villagers and Jessica."

"But why?" Remy asked.

"It has something to do with the situation this country is in," Harry said as he tried to recall the details of what he saw inside Levett's mind. "Abeau's party is trying to discredit the Princess. Apparently, her failed summoning ritual cost her a lot of good points with her allies, and they want to keep it that way. No one is supposed to know about my and Neville's existences. Any detail further than that is a little foggy, since it has little to do with their actual plan so I just skipped over those memories."

"Just for that…" Once again, Remy looked like he went into shock. Just a moment later though, the fire returned to his eyes as he glared at the unconscious knight. "They are willing to slaughter my village just because of their own bullshit politic? We didn't do anything wrong. We served them, bended to their will, satisfied their ridiculous demands and accepted punishments for the smallest of fault. We don't even care about that damned Princess in the first place…"

Harry didn't know anything he could say in this situation to make things better, and neither did Neville, so they kept their silence. Remy's rant went on and on for awhile, until he finally calmed down and slumped to the floor, leaning against a wall.

"So… What's 'Plan B'? How are they going to kill us this time?" He asked. His voice had turned hoarse from speaking too much.

Harry glanced at Neville and started speaking after receiving an encouraging nod from his friend. "'Plan B' is for the situation where they failed their raid, or failed to kill me. They will announce that the Princess' familiars murdered Count Abeau and put a bounty on us. They will make it look like the Princess lied about her failed ritual, and since Abeau was known to have opposite political view from her, his murder will put her in a bad spot. In either case, Asburg is already branded as traitor to justify the attack this morning. If they succeeded, no one would be alive to tell the tale, but since you defeated them alongside Neville, it's now considered a rebellion against the ruling Count."

"But Levett is in our hand. How is he going to put the words out?" Neville asked while throwing hateful glares at the knight.

"Five couriers were sent out right after I escaped the mansion with Jessica. They will bring a message to Abeau's allies. The content of the message is like this : 'I'm Levett, Count Abeau's faithful knight. We request urgent backup. Princess Henrietta had been lying about the failure of her summoning ritual. Her familiars are now lending help to the village of Asburg, and they rebelled against Count Abeau, sending assassins after his life. If neither I nor the Count show up within one week after you received this letter, then you can assume that we're both dead. In that case, please put out wanted orders for the Princess' familiars. My courier can provide more details.'."

"How about the evidence? No one will take them seriously with just their words."

"Well, they are 'respected' Nobles," Harry sighed. "In any case, that has also been taken care of. The letters were sealed with Abeau's seal without his knowledge. Also… Remy, some of the scouts you sent out never returned, did they?"

"It's true, but… No!" Remy gasped. A horrified expression showed on his face as the realization dawned on him. "I...I thought they were captured, or met the enemy on their way back, or…"

"Regrettably, yes. If they can somehow prove that they are from Asburg, then their words will have more weight. It's not ironclad, but it will plant seeds of doubt into the Princess' supporters. It's lucky that you didn't send them to the directions the enemy came from. They probably would have let them pass without notifying us at all."

"Despicable," Neville spat out, slamming his fist onto the chair's armrest.

"Are you alright, Remy?" Harry asked, glancing at the man sitting against the wall. His face was now as white as paper.

"I… I need some fresh air," Remy shook his head before gradually pushing himself up. He then gave Harry and Neville a look and shakily walked out of the house. The desperation in his eyes made Harry's heart sink.

"Maybe you shouldn't drop such a bombshell on him… Poor bloke. His whole village is now branded traitor just for the ambition of a few," Neville said. His eyes were still on the closed door that Remy just went through.

"No, it's better if he knows now," Harry sighed. "He needs time to tell the other villagers, and they will have to consider their options after that. So do we. You realized what all of this means, right?"

"Our plans are screwed, that's what," Neville looked at the ceiling and closed his eyes. "We brought this disaster onto this village, we have to see it through until the end. Oh Merlin, Grandma is going to kill us once we get back. If we ever get back at all."

"We will," Harry put a hand on Neville's shoulder. "This is just a minor setback. Has any of our plans ever gone smoothly?"

"Well, certainly not yours," Neville snickered. "Mine had all been smooth sailing before I got involved with you, just so you know."

"Honestly, had you told me that all of those ruined cauldrons in Snape's class were all part of your grand scheme, I would have helped," Harry grinned and pulled his hand back to avoid being slapped by Neville, who was also wearing a similar grin.

"Nah, you three were too busy saving the world," his friend replied.

* * *

Despite being knackered, Harry's well deserved rest was still far away, as there was still one more conversation to be done. He had to inform Tania of what they just learned. While there was no doubt that Remy would tell her sooner or later, he still didn't feel right to leave her in the dark, considering how she was one of the closest people to him and Neville in Asburg.

Hence the reason Harry found himself knocking on her door. It was silent for a few second, before the sound of light footsteps came from inside. The door then opened slightly, and Tania stepped out, closing it behind her back.

"Jessica's sleeping. Poor girl, being set up to die like that," She murmured. Harry could see the sorrow in her eyes. "How can I help you two?"

"We need to talk," said Harry before leading the group back to the living room. Apparently, the worry was still showing on his face, as Tania's expression grew more concerned as she followed him.

Once everyone was properly seated, Harry repeated everything he just learned from Levett. By the end of it, Tania's eyes were all watery as she sobbed, glancing between the two wizards in front of her and the unconscious knight. She didn't ask how Harry could find out that much in such a short time, but for now, it was probably the last thing on her mind.

"I'm sorry," was all Harry could say. He was also the first one to admit that it sounded incredibly empty, and was of no use comforting the distraught girl.

"How… How did Remy react to this?" She asked, hastily wiping away a tear that rolled down her cheek.

"He was shocked and left."

"I need to talk to him," Tania stood up on her shaky legs. She was about to step out of the house but stopped, taking a deep breath to calm herself down and turned her head back to Harry and Neville. "You two should wash up and rest. If the infirmary is too uncomfortable, you can get some spare mats and use this room."

"About that… We already told Remy that we will make a camp outside of the village for the rest of our stay."

"What? Why?" Tania's eyes widened as she turned around fully to face them.

"It's a little complicated," Harry sighed and scratched the back of his head. "It's one of my spells. It's rather… intrusive, and Remy feels it's safer for both you and him if we stay away."

"How intrusive?" She narrowed her eyes, which were still glistening with tears.

"It's a sort of mind reading," Harry decided to come clean, since she was going to know anyway. "But I swear I've never use it on any of the villagers."

"Then how did Remy know?"

Instead of answering, Harry just glanced at Levett.

"Of course," Tania blinked. "Can… Neville do it too?"

"I can't," Neville's voice was more heated than what Harry thought was necessary. "It's a highly regulated spell where we came from, and it requires some specific mental conditions that I don't have."

After a moment, it looked like Neville realized that he wasn't talking to Remy. All of the heat seemed to leave his voice as his body gradually relaxed. "But I understand Remy's reservation toward it. Harry's right. We will just make a camp for the time being."

To their surprise, Tania's eyes narrowed down even further as she glared at them. "Nonsense, you two are staying here."

"But… Remy…" Harry sputtered.

"I will talk to him, that idiot," she huffed. It probably was inappropriate given the atmosphere of the room, but the sight of her pink cheeks puffed up made Tania look rather adorable. Harry had to stop himself from chuckling. Next to him though, Neville actually chuckled out loud.

"You look cute like that," he commented, not noticing the immediate effect of his words on the other two.

Harry turned to stare at his friend so fast that his neck made an audible 'snap', and his jaw went slack. He had never heard Neville openly compliment a girl on her look in front of him before. Tania wasn't faring any better. Her pink cheeks were getting redder by the seconds. Her glare vanished, replaced by a look of shock as she covered her gasp with both hands.

"Ah… Thank you… I… need to find Remy," she stuttered before fleeing the room.

"Maybe I shouldn't have said that?" Neville blinked at the spot where Tania was standing a moment ago while showing a confused frown.

"No, I think you just caught her by surprise. You should ask about it later," Harry laughed and punched his friend's arm. "You sneaky git. I've never heard you compliment someone like that before."

"That's because I have never done that when you're around," Neville growled and massaged the punched spot.

"So why now? You fancy Tania?"

"What? No," his expression turned solemn. "I mean, she's pretty, and kind, and her knowledge about plants and floras is incredible, but we are from two different worlds, Harry. It's not a figure of speech. We literally are."

"Alright, I get it. There's no need to get worked up like that," Harry quickly raised his hands and leaned away.

"Right, sorry," Neville heaved out a sigh. "So what do we do now? Stay here or go out?"

"Well… since Tania already gave us permission…"

"You know what? I'm way too tired to move now, let alone conjuring up a whole camp," he stretched his upper body and let out a huge yawn.

"Same," Harry grinned. "We should probably move to the infirmary though. Maybe it's a little cramped, but that way Remy can't be too upset with us. I'll leave a note in case Tania get worried. Also, you really need a bath, mate. You're covered in dirt and blood."

"Pot calling kettle black," Neville snickered before pulling out his wand and do a little wave. Instantly, all of the filth on his body vanished and he was squeaky clean. "There. It can't beat a proper bath but like I said, too knackered. Satisfied?"

Harry only shrugged and performed the same charm on himself.

* * *

In the evening, after his third trip to Abeau's mansion to retrieve Jessica's belongings, Harry decided to look for Remy again. When he and Neville first woke up in the afternoon and met Tania, she told them that Remy had backed down after she gave him an earful, and was now fine with them staying at their house for the time being. Still, Harry felt a little sorry for the man, so he was going to apologize to Remy first, before moving on to discuss their future plans. By now, Remy should have told everyone about what they learned from Levett already.

When asked if she knew where her brother was, Tania gave Harry the direction to a large clearing in the forest next to her house, where Remy used to practice his archery, as well as to 'sulk' - Tania's word - whenever he needed to be alone.

Despite the directions being rather straightforward, it still took Harry a couple of _'Point me'_ before he saw the flickering light from the torches that Remy lit. After a few more minutes of walking, Harry finally got a unobstructed view of the clearing. He was about to call out to Remy, but stopped himself when he saw the focused look on the man's face.

Remy was standing right in the middle of the field with his longbow raised and fully drawn. Facing him, quite a distance away, was a strawman with three arrows stuck to its head, and the same number on its chest. While Harry was busy looking at the dummy, Remy released his fingers, and his arrow tore through the air until it joined the other on the target's head with a dull _'Thunk'_ sound. Immediately after, he took out another arrow from the quiver on his back, nocking it, before pointing it at the dummy's chest and released, all in a fluid motion.

Remy then released the breath he was holding and took a few steps back before repeating the exercise. It was repeated over and over after every two shots, until he ended up on the edge of the clearing, which doubled the distance between him and the strawman since the moment Harry started watching. Up until that moment, Remy's speed hadn't decreased, and he hadn't missed once, like everything he had been doing was purely based on instinct. Maybe it was on some level. He might have done this for hundreds, if not thousands of times already.

Harry was pulled out of his musing at the sight of the last arrow splitting another one in half. At this point, Remy had ran out of ammunition, and he saw no further point in hiding himself, so Harry stepped out of the shadow.

"That was impressive."

Hearing his voice, Remy almost jumped before turning toward him and raised his bow. His hand reached behind to pull out another arrow, but the quiver was empty. However, Remy's shoulders slumped and he let out a long sigh when he realized that the newcomer was Harry.

"Tania's right. You _do_ have the talent to scare the crap out of people with your silent walking."

"One of my many strong points," Harry grinned and took out a tiny box from inside his robe, enlarging it before giving it to the other man. "Your meal. You didn't turn up for supper, so Tania asked me to bring you some."

"Thanks," Remy took the box and sat down on the spot before opening it. Inside was some pieces of brown bread, boiled vegetable, and boar meat. Everything was reheated and kept warm by Harry's magic.

"You do this everyday?" Harry sat down beside the man and gestured toward the strawman.

"I used to, but not anymore," Remy shook his head and took a mouthful of bread. He appeared to be famished, and the manner he was showing briefly reminded Harry of Ron.

Since Remy looked like he could choke on the food if he had to talk at the same time, Harry wisely waited until the box was emptied before conjuring him some water and continued the conversation.

"So… Tania talked to you," he began. "Sorry for that by the way, Neville and I thought we should inform her before leaving. She didn't take it very well."

"You tell me. You weren't here when she gave me a lecture about how to properly treat our patients," Remy rolled his eyes, but held up his hand when Harry opened his mouth again. "But you don't have to apologize. I do. I shouldn't have reacted that way, especially after I told the other guys about how I would stand behind my family's decision. So, sorry."

"To be fair, everyone should be wary when facing a Legilimency practitioner," Harry shrugged. "It's one of the reasons why the art is selective, and we generally don't tell other people that we are chosen. It can cause panic and distrust."

"I can see why," Remy said. "I'm still not comfortable with it, but since Tania trusts you, I won't go against her wish."

"Thanks."

"The fact that your arrival has caused us trouble, on the other hand…" he continued and glared at Harry. "I've talked to the others, and they aren't happy."

"I bet. How did they react?" Harry sighed. Even if being summoned into this world was something out of his control, he couldn't help but feel a little guilty about the whole thing. Back then, his friends would scold him every time he started thinking that way, but Harry knew that they would feel the same when they were in his shoes. Besides, that was who he was, and no amount of scolding could make it go away.

"Some were so shocked that they couldn't say anything. Some were enraged and started punching anything that they could reach. Some cried and demanded to hand you two over to make peace with the Nobles."

"Then why haven't they done that?"

In fact, no one had bothered Harry and Neville at all.

"Why else? One of you showed strange but powerful magic while defending our village, the other took Abeau's knight hostage and walked out of his mansion relatively unscathed. They're scared of you," Remy snorted. "Also, some of us stopped them from doing so. We aren't on your side, but we know that it's futile trying to make peace. We humiliated the Nobles. They aren't going to forgive us that easily."

"Right," Harry nodded. "So what are you going to do?"

"I'm still thinking, but many others have decided to flee. After the betrayal of some of our own, they have lost the will to fight. Besides, I doubt that we were going to survive a battle against many Nobles at once. They now know what we're capable of, and they won't go easy on us anymore."

"That sounds about right," Harry grimaced, remembering the seer power of just one Noble in combat. "Look, if there's anything I can do to make up for you guys…"

"Actually, there's one thing," Remy cut him off.

"Do tell."

"Again, I can't speak for the others, and this is my personal request. I want you to bring my grandma back from the Capital. The traitors can reveal who has been taking care of you two, and if that's the case, she will be in danger, being our relative. Please."

"Of course I'll help you," Harry said right away. This one was a no-brainer. "We are planning to go to the Capital anyway. If you can tell me where she is, I will look for her and bring her back."

* * *

Over the next two days, more and more families started putting their belongings on a cart or more before leaving the village. If they accidentally passed Harry or Neville, they only looked downward and keep on going without saying a word. Though the fear mixed with anger in their eyes were difficult to bear every time Harry managed to get a glimpse of them. But he knew that there was little he could do to ease their pain, so he too, kept his silence as their silhouettes got further and further away.

Harry had been in a few abandoned places during his training, but this was the first time he saw something as sad as the sight of an empty Asburg, probably because he knew how lively it was just a couple of days ago. Even back in the ruin of Hogwarts after the final fight with Voldemort, there was hope for a brighter future where the dark had been vanquished. Here though, there was not even a glimmer of hope in both the ones who were leaving and the ones who were staying.

Still, the rest of the villagers had to come to a decision, since staying put meant certain death.

That evening, every remaining person in Asburg gathered at the village square, Harry and Neville included. The two of them and Tania arrived a little late though, since they had stayed behind to help her with the dishes after their meal, and Tania refused to let them side-along her again. To their surprise, the moment they stepped into the square, they found themselves faced against Victor. The chief was standing with his back straight and had a strong determination in his eyes as he looked at them. Behind him, everyone else seemed to be giving off the same vibe. It was actually a little unnerving. Harry didn't know what they had been discussing up until now, but he knew that it had something to do with him and Neville.

"Good evening, chief," he greeted with a polite smile, while subtly scanning the crowd to see if anything strange happened. They didn't appear to be hostile, but it didn't hurt to be careful.

"Good to finally have you join us, Harry, Neville," Victor nodded. He then cast a glance over his shoulder and sighed. "As you can see, there aren't many of us left. Those people, me included, have nowhere else to go. No acquaintance, no relative anywhere for us to turn to. We have spent our lives here, our entire families are here, and we never thought that we will have to leave this place one day."

Harry nodded, sensing that the chief still had more to say. Finally, he continued.

"We gathered here to discuss our options, but I will be frank, there is just no option for us. If we stay, we die. If we flee, where will we go? No one will be willing to hide us, and you can go for so long before someone recognizes that we're from Asburg, especially after the news got out. Our hunters probably can survive in the wild, some of the female too. Strong folks, they are. But we have children and the elderly. I don't know how long they will last, and no one here is about to abandon their family."

"Of course," Harry said. "And this is where Neville and I come in?"

"Actually, yes. You're very perceptive," Victor sighed before looking straight at his eyes. "We can only ask you to protect us again, or at least hide us from danger. I know it's selfish. Remy already told us about how you two got here, and it was out of your control. Bringing you in was entirely our choice, again, not your responsibility. But this old man, in place of every single person here, beg you to help us out one more time. Or even just the young ones..."

The chief was ready to go down on his knees, but Harry and Neville reacted in time and stopped him.

"Please don't do that," Neville said, holding Victor up by his left arm while Harry took care of the other side. "Harry and I have already discussed this between ourselves, and we will help you to the best of our ability."

"Really?" Victor's eyes widened.

"Really," Neville smiled at him. In front of them, murmuring sounds could be heard from the crowd, as well as some words of thanks. When Harry looked at them, he could once again see some sparks of hope in their eyes. The scene only reinforced his belief that this was the right thing to do. He and Neville could split up the work, and juggle both this and their own plan at the same time.

Eventually, they would have to find a permanent solution to the Asburg problem before returning to their own world, but for now, they had time.

"What are we going to do then?" Victor's question pulled Harry out of his train of thought.

Harry blinked, and took a moment to choose his words before speaking. "Well, there's a branch of magic back at our place called 'Warding'. It's used to build up traps or protections over a location, and there are many different effects. I don't know if the Nobles here have something similar…"

"They do," Victor nodded.

"Really?" Harry raised an eyebrow. "I didn't sense anything like that at Abeau's place."

"It's because Count Abeau rarely spends time at that house, so he didn't set up any, probably," Jessica, who was standing in front of the crowd, answered.

"I see. I will have to be more careful in the future then," Harry nodded with a frown. "Anyway, while either of us is an expert in that field, we can try and set up as many wards as possible to protect you from harm. But there's a catch, we can't set wards over an entire village. Technically it's possible, but we both lack the knowledge to do it."

"So you will do it to each of our house then?" Victor gave them a confused, but hopeful look.

"No, it will take to much time," Harry shook his head and the chief's face fell after hearing his words, so he quickly continued. "No, what we will do is to gather everyone here into one single house, before building the wards to cover that house only."

"But there are seventy-six of us," Victor exclaimed loudly. "No matter how we look at it, there's no house around here that's big enough."

"Actually, there is," on his side, Neville grinned. "We will use Count Abeau's mansion. Harry took me back there for a tour earlier. All of the armors protecting the place are gone, and the size of the whole thing, courtyard included, is within our ability to ward. Not to mention that the mansion is easier to defend in case a battle breaks out."

"Count Abeau's… Are… Are you serious?" Victor's eyebrows shot up, making the age lines of his forehead wrinkled even more. There were several surprised gasp from the crowd, and the sound of murmuring returned even louder than before.

"Very."

"Well… Seeing how we're all branded as traitors already…" Victor mumbled in a shaky voice, more to himself than to anyone else. "I'm sorry, but… Are you sure? Can it hold all seventy-six of us?"

"I think if we utilize all of the servant's quarter, it will be a tight fit," Neville's expression turned thoughtful as he tried to recall the details of the house. "We can expand the size of the mansion, but that comes after we got the protection down. So you will have to bear with it for awhile."

"Of course," Victor nodded instantly. A wide smile was showing on his face as cheering started coming from the rest of the villagers.

"If you all agree, then we should move there tomorrow morning. According to what we learnt from Levett, we have at least one week left to build our defense. I don't think the two of us will be able to fit everything into that timeframe, but we will try to build as many wards as we can," Harry told Victor. "Also, I need a favor in return."

"If you can protect these people, then anything," the chief said.

"Neville and I have been planning to catch a ride with the trading caravan to the Capital, but since we're going to move, it's no longer possible. I would like one of the villagers to lead us there."

"Both of you are going?" The panic once again seeped into Victor's voice.

"That's the original plan, but seeing how things turned out, only one of us will go," Harry shrugged. It didn't matter anyway, since the one who arrived first could just apparate back to pick up the other. After that, they could pop from the mansion to the Capital and vice versa whenever they wanted, as long as they didn't exhaust themselves.

"That's possible then," Victor let out a relieved sigh before turning back to look at the crowd. "I think… Noel will do it. When his father was still alive, he used to take him there. Hey, Noel!"

"Yes, chief?" Came a voice from somewhere within the sea of people.

"You still remember the way to the Capital?"

"Yes."

"There you go," Victor turned back to Harry and nodded.

"Thank you, chief," Harry smiled at him.

"No, thank _you,_ " this time, Victor bowed down before either Harry or Neville could stop him. In the end, the two of them just shared an awkward glance and shrugged in unison before stepping forward to help the chief up.


	5. Chapter 5

An argument erupted between Harry and Neville the night before, when they tried to determine who would be the one to go with Noel and Jessica to the Capital. Neville, in his defense, said that he should be the one to go, since Harry had already risked himself enough during the Abeau's mansion fiasco. Harry retorted that defending the village was just as dangerous, and since they were both crap at warding, the one who had better chance to get the other two out of danger should it happened, should be the one accompanied them.

That went on for awhile before an irritated Remy banged on their door, reminding them that it was one in the morning, so they should shut the hell up and settle it quietly between themselves like adults.

No one was bothered enough to point out for Remy that he was, in fact, the loudest person in the building. Still, his interruption gave Harry and Neville some time to cool down. In the end, Neville relented and went to bed, but not before drilling Harry with the importance of fleeing the moment he was in over his head.

The following morning, after getting every remaining villager to Count Abeau's previous vacation house, it was finally time for Harry to set off. By this time, Neville was feeling a bit better at the situation. He was still ticked off by their argument the night before, but seeing that they had to ride a horse during the trip put him off a little. Neville was never good on a broom, and the one occasion where he rode a thestral could hardly be counted as proper experience for this sort of thing.

"Aw… crap…" Hearing the murmur, Neville turned to his side to see Harry's dejected face as he looked at the horses.

"I thought you would like this?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Was that a serious question?" Harry glared at him. "I'm good on a broom, or a hippogriff, or a thestral, but a horse is neither of those."

"I could have sworn that they are quite similar," Neville grinned.

"If they could somehow fly, then yes. I don't know, mate. I think this will be a pain in the arse."

"Literally?"

"Literally," Harry winced, but Neville knew that he would never back down. To his credit, the discomfort on his face vanished the moment he heard Noel's voice from behind.

"You ready to go?" Asked the young villager, who was wearing a hesitant smile. On his back was a pack of camping gear - folded tent, some torches, and a backpack of food..

"Your magic is amazing. All of this luggage and they don't weigh anything at all," Noel continued, patting the backpack.

"But will that be enough food for all three of us? We are spending a few days on the road after all," from behind him, Jessica asked.

"Don't worry about that," Harry waved her concern away. "As long as we have a food sample, I can always make more. Well… The taste might be a little off. I'm not that familiar with the spell, but it can be done. Besides, I don't think it's right to take too much food from the rest, given their situation…"

"You're right," Jessica sighed and cast a apologetic at the mansion behind her. Her enthusiasm soon returned as she turned back to the group. "So, we're going?"

"We are," Harry threw a glance at the horses. "Noel, please lead the way."

He and Noel then got up on their horses, and Neville was not surprised to see that Harry had little trouble climbing up his. It was the same way with the thestral back in their fifth year at Hogwarts.

"Umm… So, goodbye, Neville. And thank you for taking care of me," Jessica was the last one to go. She lingered behind and smiled at him. "I've already said goodbye to the other villagers…" She then paused and let out an awkward laugh. "It's strange, addressing a mage like that…"

"Not as strange as suddenly finding yourself in a completely different place one day, trust me," Neville smiled back. "It's good to meet you. Now take care, and don't let Harry rush into stupid things, please."

"I'll try my best," this time, it was a genuine laugh before she got on the last horse and joined Noel.

"Keep them safe, and send a patronus if you need help but can't get out of there, got it?" Neville turned back to his friend.

"Loud and clear," Harry did a mock salute and grinned, only to lose his balance and almost fell down as his horse chose that exact time to turn sideway. "I'll pick you up as soon as I can, so do your best on the wards, yeah?"

"I will," Neville nodded. After the two of them said goodbye, he stood there grinning at Harry's effort to stay balanced on horseback for a few minutes before turning around and walked back into the mansion. There was a lot of work to be done. The villagers were sorting out their sleeping arrangement, and their prisoners had been put away down at the basement, so he should just take a room and start working on the wards right away.

* * *

By the time Neville finished preparing the anchors for the most basic wards, it was already two in the afternoon, according to his watch, which meant he had spent over eight hours carving Runes on seven large smooth stones in front of him. Now all he had to do was to set them up around the house.

Technically, it would be better to have every ward he wanted on these stones before powering them up, but Neville decided not to do that. Instead, he would do each ward on a different set and set them up immediately. If by chance anything unexpected happen ahead of their 'schedule', it would be a disaster to have unpowered, unfinished ward stones, which were not any better than decorating rocks.

"Ouch… My arms hurts," Neville stood up and stretched his entire body. He had been sitting down and focusing on keeping his hands steady for way too long. This was one of the reason why he didn't want to go too deeply into this sort of thing back at Hogwarts. With small spaces and tiny houses, just remembering the charms and a lot of wand movements were enough to set up decent protections. A mansion of this size was a different story. Unless you were some sort of warding master, extending just the charms to cover the whole thing without any support from ward stones was ridiculous.

For someone at Harry and Neville's level, when they said that this mansion was within their ability to ward, it actually meant the limit of their skill, but as long as there was a shot, they would do it.

"Should get this done as soon as possible I guess," Neville said to himself before shrinking all seven stones, stuffing them into his pocket and walked out of the room that he and Harry were going to share. It was actually Abeau's old room. The villagers had insisted on them staying here.

The moment Neville opened the door, he was surprised to see Tania on the other side, with her fist raised like she was about to knock.

"Eh… Hi?" She was as surprised as he was, stumbling on her word when she saw his face suddenly appeared "You didn't show up for lunch, so I came to ask if you want any food. We aren't going to prepare supper until later, but if it's bread or something…"

"It's alright, I can wait. I need to set up the ward first anyway. Better to get it out of the way," Neville stopped her with a smile.

"Oh, It's done? I thought it was going to take much longer," Tania's eyes widened and sparkled with curiosity, not as much as Remy whenever he heard about a new piece of magic, but enough for the teacher persona in Neville to smile.

"It is not done, unfortunately. This is just the first set of many. Come on, let's talk while we walk."

Tania nodded and followed Neville out of the mansion and into the large courtyard that still remained almost untouched, except for one of seven large holes that Neville asked the villagers to dig up for him beforehand. After inspect it to make sure the size was perfect, he took one of the stones out of his robe, enlarging it before put it into the hole and filled the rest of the space with dirt.

"Is that it?" Tania blinked and frowned a little. "I was hoping it would be a little… fancier, maybe?"

"No, but I need to bury the rest of them before getting to the 'fancy' part," Neville laughed before casting a few protective spells over the spot. These were easy, and were used to drive the attention of other people away from it, as well as to reduce the damage the ground received in case of a lucky hit. Power-wise, the mages of this world were formidable with their elemental attacks. Neville had experienced that himself, and Harry's story only cemented the fact. He had no doubt that this kind of protection would only hold for so long. They should try to strengthen it whenever they could.

Once they had finished with the first spot, Neville led Tania to the second, which was by the main entrance. On his way, he couldn't help but notice that the mansion was emptier than it should be.

"Where is everyone, Tania?" He asked.

"Most of them are helping the elders to settle down, or resting themselves. Sorting out where seventy-six people are going to sleep was harder than we expected. Families with elders and children were given the nicer guest rooms, but it doesn't matter that much, really. Even the servants' rooms are more comfortable than what we had back home."

"But…?" Neville raised an eyebrow. He sensed a 'but' there.

Tania looked startled for a second before giving him a sad smile. "But it's not home. I find it difficult to rest, so I've been trying to find work to pass the time. And don't you dare say sorry."

She glared at him before the word could leave his mouth.

"Alright, I won't," Neville chuckled.

"Good," Tania nodded and her smile brightened up as they reached the second spot. She then stood back in silence as Neville repeated the necessary steps on the ward stone.

"That size changing spell is very handy," she commented when he finally look a step back and wiped the sweat off his forehead. "You can carry an entire house in your pocket like that."

"I guess, but we never do that back home, so the thought never occurred to me."

"But why? It's such a convenient thing," Tania couldn't hide the surprise in her voice.

"Because most wizarding houses have a fair number of enchantments on them, like the one I'm doing now," he gestured at the buried stone. "Some were literally help up by magic, or have the space inside expanded by magic. To circumvent all those spells just to shrink a house is too much work, especially when we have other alternatives when traveling."

The conversation then continued on as the two of them walked around the mansion, setting down ward stones as they went. When Neville finally got to the last one, he stood up and grinned at Tania.

"Here comes the fancy part. Well, not that fancy actually, but at least it's more than what we've been doing."

Tania smiled at him and urged him to go on. Neville then tapped his wand on the top of the seventh stone, which was still above ground, and started chanting. From the point where his wand touched, the Runes started to glow and a gentle red light flowed downward until it filled every letter. Almost immediately after that, they all pulsed once, twice, then thrice before a red beam shot up and spread into a dome covering the entire mansion. The light show ended as quickly as it came and everything returned to normal as Neville started the process of lowering the stone to the ground.

"It was amazing," behind him, Tania exclaimed.

"I'm glad you liked it."

"And I'm not the only one who did."

"What?" That answer caught Neville off guard as he turned around. Behind Tania, a distance away, were some of the children from Asburg. Apparently they were on an adventure to explore the yard and came upon the ward powering. It was an adorable sight with all of their eyes glued to the sky while their mouth hung open in awe. The first one amongst them to recover though, looked down and saw Neville looking at them. His eyes widened further in fear and he poked his friends before they all scurried away as fast as their little legs could carry them.

The sight made Neville's heart fell a little. "They are still afraid of me."

"They will warm up eventually," Tania put a hand on his arm and gave it a gentle squeeze. "Their parents always tell the children that the mages are scary. They sent them to play elsewhere everytime a Noble came to our village so that they wouldn't accidentally do anything destructive. You're different though."

"I certainly hope so," Neville sighed. He was aware that Tania didn't remove her hand, but chose not to comment on it, while silently blaming Harry for making him conscious of such thing. "How about the adults? They accepted Harry and me awfully fast, didn't they?"

"You fought with some of them, and are now protecting their lives. I can't say that they aren't frightened by you two, but it's a start."

"It is," he nodded, not knowing what else to say. In his opinion, it seemed like the villagers were just putting up with the two of them because they had no alternative, but there was no way he was going to say that out loud to Tania. He then decided that it was time to get out of that awkward topic. "We're done here. You said that you are finding some work to do. Do you have anything in mind?"

"Oh, that, I almost forgot," Tania gasped. "That's something I want to ask you about, come."

Neville followed her as she pulled on his sleeve into the mansion, up the main staircase until they reached the roof of one of the two towers there. The moment Tania opened the door to let him in, he could tell right away what this place was used for. There were rows and rows of brown paper sacks lined up against the railing on one side of the roof. On the other side was some kind of wooden rack with little ceramic pots on it. If the sight alone wasn't obvious enough, then the smell of soil and fertilizer that invaded Neville's nostrils was a dead give away.

"Are you… planting something in here?" Neville asked, gesturing at the little pots.

"Yes," Tania nodded happily. "Last night I gathered everything from the house that I could bring with me. There were some seeds and herbs that could be planted, so I thought I would give it a try."

"But doesn't this kind of thing takes a long time to grow?" Neville frowned as he and Tania stepped closer to the rack to look at the plants. At this stage, there wasn't anything to see but dirt though. "I'm not saying that we're going to lose, but say, if we're forced to flee, or the mansion is not usable anymore, doesn't that mean all of this is going to waste?"

"That's why I didn't plant these down in the yard, but use pots instead," Tania wasn't fazed at his word. It looked like she already anticipated his response. "I was going to ask you if you can do something to make them easier to transport, maybe make them lighter like Harry did with Noel's luggage this morning? Or you can shrink them like those stone?"

Neville mulled her suggestion over in his head for a few seconds. "I'm not sure. Some of the plants will react poorly to magical transformation. We can certainly try though."

"Of course," Tania beamed up. "Actually, I've never planted some of these, since we could get them from the merchant. Do you think you can help me in your free time?"

"Me?" Neville blinked. "But I haven't even seen any of these before."

"But you have experience tending to plants. Besides, didn't you say that you want to learn more about them?"

"I did say that," Neville said slowly. He was taken aback, not so much by the request itself, but by Tania's manner, which seemed more forceful than how she usually acted in front of him. It made him slightly uneasy. But again, everyone had been on edge since Levett's plan was revealed. Maybe she was just under stress?

While he was thinking it over, Tania had taken his hesitation as a sign of rejection. The hopeful look in her eyes were replaced with disappointment as she looked down at her feet.

"It's okay if you don't want to," she said. Her voice so small that Neville almost missed it. "I was just being selfish. You're busy protecting everyone here and I just…"

"I think you're jumping to the wrong conclusion, Tania," Neville sighed and cut her off, stopping the misunderstanding from going any further. "I've never said that I wasn't going to help."

"But you didn't accept either…" Tania's head snapped up at him, a surprised expression on her face.

"Just thinking about it. You haven't exactly let me and Harry help you with anything like this since we first met. Maybe a little chore here and there, but nothing more than that."

"Oh…" To Neville's surprise, her face once again went full blush, just like the time when he complimented her. "Did… Did I make you uncomfortable?"

Now that Neville thought about it, Harry had told him to ask her about that particular incident, but he'd never got the chance. At least this time she didn't run away.

"Not uncomfortable, more like I was puzzled, and a little concerned," he said, shaking his head.

"Concerned?" Tania blinked in confusion.

"Yes, with all the things that has been happening lately. Are you alright?" Neville looked around and transformed a leftover plank nearby into a wooden bench and sat down, before patting the seat next to him, asking Tania to do the same. She hesitated for a second, but finally walked over and sat down next to him. Neville was happy to note that she no longer flinch or shrink away when he used magic around her.

"No, not really," Tania shook her head. The blush had left her face, but not completely, since there were still two faint pink spots on her cheeks. "You're right. Things have been really hectic for the past few days. I'm a little lost, and worried. After that battle, everyone was saying how strong you were, Neville. And Harry broke through hundreds of animated armors and a Noble to bring Jessica to safety. You two are really amazing..."

"But you are worried that it won't be enough if the other Nobles gang up on us," said Neville. He could tell what she was thinking, since the same thought had been appearing on his mind over and over for the past few days.

"No! I mean…" Tania looked at him and was about to protest. However, the moment their eyes met, her words were caught in her throat. She tried to open her mouth again but nothing came out. In the end, she gave up and turned her gaze downward, before giving him a small nod.

"It's okay. Harry and I have thought of that possibility. We both agreed that fighting them head on in our current state is a stupid thing to do."

"Then what should we do?" She asked without looking up.

"We try to hide and avoid a battle altogether," said Neville. "Remember the circle that Harry drew for Jessica? We will try to do the same to this mansion. Once it's up, no one from outside can see or find this place without me or Harry as their guide. The downside is the same though, if anyone goes out, they won't be able to come back in on their own."

"I'm not sure if the others will like it. It's like a prison," Tania sighed. "Can you do something about it?"

"Maybe, but it will take time. Since we are trying to get everything up as quickly as possible, there's just no time for extra functionalities. Who knows, maybe Harry will be able to find us some help from the Capital, but I wouldn't put too much money on that bet."

"Me neither," Her shoulders shook slightly as she chuckled. "Sorry, I shouldn't complain too much. You're just trying to protect us, and Harry is helping my grandma. I'll talk to Remy, then we will try to convince the others."

"That would be a great help," Neville returned her smile. "In return, I'll help you with these plants. Maybe I should try to grow some of my own as well…"

"You will?" Once again, the curious sparkles returned to Tania's eyes.

"Sure, why not?" Neville shrugged. "I've told you that I'll give you some of my plants, and I need something else to do too. Do you want to start now? There's still another hour before you have to come back and prepare supper, right?"

Tania nodded and gave him a bright smile. Despite what he had told Harry, that sight still made Neville feel like a huge weight was just lifted off his chest.

"Say, how long do you think it will take them to reach the Capital?" He asked.

"Normally it would take around three days, but since Harry doesn't know how to ride a horse, it might take longer," said Tania.

* * *

Harry didn't know about it, but Tania was right. It took his party over four days to reach the Capital. When they rode through the gate, it was almost noon. The trip was uneventful for a change, for which Harry was thankful. Ever since he first arrived here, so many things had happened in succession, and almost none of them could be considered good. A few peaceful days to rest was exactly what he needed at the moment.

Besides, his butt and thighs were aching like crazy from spending too much time on horseback. He had tried the Cushioning Charm, but its helpfulness was short-lived. If only he had his Firebolt here, or honestly, at this point Harry would even be willing to use a Cleansweep, or an ancient Comet.

"Welcome to Tristania," Noel announced with a wide smile on his face. Over the course of their trip, he had opened up and was getting more familiar with Harry, to the point of calling him by his name without having to think about it. There were still some reservations between the two of them, but that was to be expected.

"Interesting…" Harry murmured. From his position on horseback, he had a good view of the scenery over the bustling crowd of people going on with their day. Even if Harry had been able to figure it out by himself, he was still a little disappointed to see that even at the Capital of a country, everything was closer to the medieval time than the modern era that he was used to.

Still, one didn't survive seven years at Hogwarts without learning to cope with the lack of some muggle necessities. Not to mention that Harry and Neville could perform magic freely in this world, so it wouldn't be much of a problem.

The group then continued to move into the city, this time with Jessica as their guide. Harry couldn't help but keep on glancing at the scenery around him when they passed by a marketplace. There were weapons and armors shops, then potion shop that sold all kind of weird ingredients that he hadn't seen before. There were also some mundane stores that sells meat and all kind of vegetables that looked surprisingly familiar to what they had back home. There were even bakeries and teahouses in the distance.

The city didn't _look_ modern, but it sure wasn't lacking when it came to quality of life.

"Hurry up. This way. We're almost at my father's inn," said Jessica over the sounds of shopkeepers advertising their goods and housewives haggling for a better price. Harry couldn't help but smile at the excitement in her voice. When he first rescued her from Abeau's hand, she seemed a little withdraw from the trauma. Even before that, he had mistaken her to be a quiet, meek girl. Apparently that wasn't the case. Jessica's recovery was amazing, and her outgoing personality soon overpowered the bad memories of her abduction.

"Jessica, I've been wondering, but what's the name of that inn?" Noel asked.

"The Charming Fairies," said Jessica.

"The… What? That…" To Harry's surprise, Noel was a little startled at the answer. It didn't escape Jessica's notice as she turned around and narrowed her eyes.

"What's wrong with it?"

"Nothing. Nothing," Noel waved his hand frantically. "I'm just thinking that… Harry is going to enjoy it."

"Me? Why?" Harry frowned.

"You know what? I think he will," Jessica smirked after looking thoughtful for a second, which made him even more uneasy.

"Is there something I should know?" Harry asked warily. While he knew that these two weren't going to harm him, since they had had a lot of opportunities on the way here and didn't do anything, their behaviors right now were way too suspicious.

"We have a lot of cute girls," Jessica gave him a bright smile before her expression turned into that of horror. "Or do you not like them?"

"Well, I'm a healthy bloke so… Yes? I guess?" Harry blinked. He didn't need Legilimency to know that she was telling the truth, since this wasn't the first time Jessica talked about her home, but still… "But it's not why I'm here. I don't think there's time for me to indulge myself."

"You should loosen up a little," said Jessica. "At least for today. Try to befriend the girls and my father. They serve a lot of people everyday, and our customers aren't always tight-lipped, especially when alcohol was involved."

"That makes sense," Harry nodded. He hadn't considered that possibility. Maybe he could ask them some questions over lunch…

Since he hadn't had anything to eat since morning, Harry's stomach gave out a rumble at the thought of meal.

* * *

Harry was already walking funnily by the time they reached 'The Charming Fairies', but it didn't stop him from groaning in delight as the three of them climbed off their horses, earning him a couple of chuckle from Jessica and Noel.

After leading the horses into the stable on the side of the inn, Jessica led them back to the front, and without hesitation, pushed the door open and walked in, a big grin on her face as she spread her arms widely and announced.

"Dad! Girls! I'm back!"

"Jessica!"

"Jessica is back!"

"Someone gets the owner!"

That was all Harry managed to hear before Jessica, and subsequently, him and Noel, were swarmed by a platoon of squealing girls in revealing uniform - short dress accompanied by strapless, corset-like top that bared their shoulders and the upper part of their chest. After getting over his confusion, Harry had to concede that the girls here were cute, and this was a very welcoming sight. Next to him, Noel was having trouble placing his gaze, poor bloke.

Unfortunately, all good thing came to an end, and this particular pleasing scene was no exception. It wasn't just ended, but was dragged off into a corner and beaten viciously by what came next. From a room in the back, entered a man? Woman? Harry couldn't be sure until he heard Jessica's 'Dad!' shout. The two of them then embraced. It was supposed to be a heartwarming scene, but Harry couldn't bring himself to appreciate it for what it was.

He was still too shocked to register the fact that Jessica and her father had finished hugging, and were now looking at him and Noel. When he finally snapped out of it, it was too late. The owner of 'The Charming Fairy', who was donned in a short, purple tank top and a matching short that was way too short for his own good, walked over and pulled both of them into a crushing hug.

"Welcome to my inn, boys. Thank you so much for rescuing my daughter," he whispered, tear streaming down his face.

"You're welcome… Sir… I just happened…" Harry gasped, struggling for breath between his words. Next to him, Noel had gone completely rigid, as if he was trying to escape the situation by imagining that it was all a dream.

"None of this 'Sir' nonsense," the owner said in a voice that was in no way suited for his masculine body frame. "I'm Scarron, and here, everybody calls me 'mi mademoiselle'."

"Mi… mi mademoiselle?" Harry repeated. He understood that word, having been acquainted with Fleur Delacour for a long time. It did nothing to ease the horror inside him though.

"Yes, yes," Scarron nodded in satisfaction before releasing the two of them. "Won't you stay for lunch? I feel like thanking you with words alone isn't going to be enough."

"Of course," Harry gulped. Refusing now wouldn't be wise. He was so going to bring Neville here at the first chance he got.

* * *

Lucky for Harry, some customers came in and Scarron had to cut their welcome short. He hugged the two boys once more before directing them to a table near the bar and told them to wait. Soon, Harry and Noel were joined by Jessica and two other girls who sat down a little too close to them and began serving their drink.

Harry didn't mind the distraction though.

"So… enjoying our inn, Harry?" Jessica smirked after sitting down on the other side of the table.

"Yes, I guess. Even if the owner is a little… eccentric," Harry shrugged. "I can tell he's a good man."

"He is," Jessica nodded as she looked at the bar, where Scarron were serving the new guests' drinks. "Dad has been taking care of me in place of my mother after she passed away. He tries to fill both parent roles just by himself."

"And he's doing a good job," Noel said, finally able to take his gaze off of the girl next to him.

"He will be glad to hear that," Jessica chuckled. "Poor dad. I heard that he locked himself in his room for days after I was taken away by Count Abeau… Thanks, Harry, for bringing me out of there."

"Don't mention it," Harry shook his head. The conversation then continued with nonconsequential topics until their food was ready.

* * *

"So you're saying that you come from outside of Halkeginia?" Scarron asked Harry after they finished the main dishes, and the waitresses were bringing out the desserts.

"Yes, though exactly how to get back there, I'm not sure," Harry said. "I fiddled with something I shouldn't have, and got thrown here."

Hearing his answer, Jessica's eyebrows raised just a little bit, but she didn't say anything.

"Tricky business, eh? I will never understand how all those magic works," Scarron shook his head

"Even us practitioners have a hard time doing so," Harry laughed. "That asides, I have some business here in the capital, and may need some help."

"Anything for you, as long as it's within my power," Scarron nodded. "It's the least I can do to repay you."

"It's nothing drastic," Harry gave him an assuring smile. "I just want some information to make it easier to find my way around the city."

"That's easy, just tell me where you need to go, and I'll give you the direction, or Jessica can take you there."

"That would be great," he nodded. "Then can you tell me if someone in this city want to buy enchanted objects?"

"Most pawn shop will take anything you have. But what do you want to sell though? Some people will pay a higher price depends on what you're selling," said Scarron.

"Just some enchanted gold coins," Harry took out an Galleons from his pocket. "It's my country's money, but it has an enchantment that prevents any kind of physical tampering, so it can't be melt down, get bent, or chipped, that kind of thing."

Scarron took the Galleon and brought it closer for inspection. Jessica then took it from his hand, and just like that, the coin went one whole round around the table before returning to Harry's pocket.

"I know just the guy for this," Scarron frowned slightly. "He's a Noble, a regular here. Very interested in odd magic. He's not easy to meet though…"

"Then any other merchant is fine," Harry waved his hand. "I'm in need of some quick money."

"How about this," said Scarron as he leaned forward on the table. "I'll take it off your hand for five new golds. That amount should last you one week here. After I talked with the Noble, if he's willing to pay a higher price, I'll give you the rest. If it's lower, then I can take some money from the next time you sell it. You won't sell just one coin, right?"

"Of course not," Harry shook his head. "But are you sure it's okay?"

"It is," Scarron gave Harry a sweet smile that made him shudder. "I've already calculated my cut in this. Don't worry, you will still get a better profit than anywhere else."

"Well, in that case, we've got a deal," Harry shrugged and extended his hand. He fully intended to check out the price of the other shops on his own later though. During their meeting, he couldn't detect anything malicious or dishonest about the man(?) in front of him, but Harry didn't know him all that well either. It was better safe than sorry with the limited resources that they had.

On a site note, he should have expected Scarron's grip to almost turn his hand purple when it was grabbed. Trying his best not to let the grimace show on his face, Harry asked.

"Another thing, can Jessica give me a tour around the city later?"

"Sure," Jessica nodded after trading glance with her father. "We'll prepare a room for you to rest for now. Just call me when you're ready to go."

"That would be great," Harry smiled at her.

"You boys sure are lucky," said Scarron as he handed Harry five gold coins after taking his Galleon. "It's rumored that the Princess will have a shopping trip around town tomorrow. It's not easy to get to look at her, you know."

Harry and Noel just looked at each other with their widened eyes. Scarron was right. They certainly were very lucky.

It was finally time to pick Neville up and bring him up to speed. They needed to plan.

* * *

Princess Henrietta hadn't been in a good mood lately. Ever since the day she failed her summoning ritual, everything had started going down hill.

Henrietta didn't even expect that she would fail. While it was an ancient ritual and the preparation was complicated, the spell itself was so simple that even a student at the Academy could perform it without problem. Yet she failed. She still remembered that day. There was a blinding flash of light, a small explosion that created enough smoke to fill the large room that they were in, but most of all, the horror and disappointment when she realized that nothing appeared in the middle of the magic circle. Not a single being answered her call.

She still felt that way even today.

To make it worse, there were many witnesses during the ritual that day, and many of them belonged to the party that opposed her being on the throne after her father's death by 'illness'. The news travelled like wildfire, and that cost her a lot of support from the other Nobles. That wasn't to say that she was now alone. There were still people that believed in her, but the current climate was making it hard for them, and for her, to move openly like they were used to.

Just another mistake, and the throne would be forfeited.

On the other hand, things weren't all bad. Today for example, was a great day for Henrietta. It had been so long since the last time she got out of the castle and into the city. In name, it was a shopping trip, but in reality, it was just an excuse for her to go sightseeing, to see the people that she loved so much and loved her in return, and most importantly, to change the atmosphere and clear her head a little.

At first Henrietta was a little anxious, since she didn't know how the people would react to her presence after her failure. That anxiety soon disappeared when her carriage got into the city's main street. It was a sight that she missed. When she passed through, people stopped what they were doing and smiled at her before bowing their head in greeting. Henrietta would then smiled and waved back through the small window of her carriage.

Many Nobles considered the commoners' opinion of them to be worthless, as long as they could hold their superior power over their heads. Henrietta knew better, as she was taught from a young age by her father, that people's support, even the commoners', was valuable when it came to building a strong kingdom. He had done an excellent job at keeping his subjects happy, and now, that responsibility fell onto Henrietta's shoulders.

"Stop right there!" Came a guard's voice that pulled Henrietta out of her train of thought. She then put her head out of the window and looked behind to see what was happening. There, she saw a group of three children not older than six or seven. They might have been trying to get close to the carriage, but were stopped by the guard, and were now looking absolutely terrified.

"What's going on over there?" Henrietta asked. Hearing her voice, the guard's head snapped up as he commanded his horse to get closer to the window, looking a little nervous.

"My apologize, Your Highness," he said. "Some kids were trying to get to you, saying that there's something they want to give you that they made themselves."

"I don't see anything wrong with that," Henrietta smiled at him. The guard must be new if he didn't know that she used to receive flowers from the people during her trips before.

"Well, but… They are still strangers, and…" The guard stuttered, obviously torn between his duty and the Princess's wish.

"They're just kids," said Henrietta with a small shake of her head. "Call them here."

"As you wish," the guard bowed after just a second of hesitation before returning to his position and pointed the kids toward her carriage. When they finally standing right below her window, two of them actually went speechless as they stared at her face, until the third one, apparently the oldest in the group, poke both of them in their ribs. The kids then bowed in a clumsy, cute way, and said as one.

"Your Highness."

"Good morning," she said, trying to appear as gentle as possible. "I heard that you three have something for me?"

"Y...Yes. We made this ourselves when we heard that we can see Your Highness today," the kid in front stuttered and nodded his head vigorously, before pulling out a wooden pin from his pocket. It was crude, and the colors were all over the place, but for something made by three little kids, that was good enough.

"We… kind of broke it on our way here…" The second one chimed in. "But we managed to fix it on time."

"Thank you," Henrietta gave them a smile as she reached out and took the pin, before giving each of their heads a little rub. "This is cute, and I appreciate your effort."

"She took it," the kid in front mumbled. A wide grin appeared on his face as he turned to look at his two friends. They then all bowed to her again before skipping away.

When the carriage started moving again, Henrietta couldn't keep the smile off of her face as she looked at the pin in her palm. A warm feeling spread through the chest at the thought of how the people still loved her as their princess. She thought about it for a second, before putting the pin on her dress.

* * *

Harry was enjoying a nice, cold pint of beer at the corner table of the 'Charming Fairies', when he heard the front door opened, admitting various excited chatting voices, all trying to talk over the others.

"Sir! Sir!" One of them called, and Harry turned around to look at the newcomers, a group of kids not older than six or seven.

"Welcome back," he gave them a wide smile as they approached his table. "How did it go?"

"She really likes it," one of the kids said. He was practically bouncing up and down in place. "And she even rubbed our heads."

"Good for you," Harry laughed. "See? I've already told you that the pin you made is excellent."

"But you fixed it for us," the oldest looking kid said. "I don't know what we should have done if you hadn't walked by back there."

"So… Thank you," the last one in their group said and reached his hand out. When Harry looked down, he saw three round, red candies and laughed again.

"You three are good kids. Thank you," he said, taking the candies and popped one into his mouth. The taste was… weird, to say the least, but he didn't let it show on his face. "It was delicious."

"Of course," the candy kid grinned. "Well, we have to go now. I'm sure that our parents will start looking for us soon if we don't."

"Come along then," Harry nodded and waved them goodbye as they rushed out of the inn. As soon as the door was closed again, he turned sideway to look at a grinning Jessica, who was wearing an amused look in her eyes.

"Where did you find those brats?" She asked.

"Eh, they were crying in front of the inn earlier," Harry shrugged. "The pin that they made to give the princess broke, so I fixed it."

He made a little twirl of his finger, mimicking his wand movement.

"That's awfully nice of you," she smiled. "But how about you? Aren't you going to see the princess?"

"Maybe later," Harry chuckled before returning to his beer.

"If you say so," said Jessica. "Just don't be late. Our princess is a true beauty. It would be a waste not to see her when you can."

"Oh, I will. Don't worry," Harry grinned at her. Right at that moment, the inn's door opened again, and this time, it was Noel who walked in.

"I'm back," he said with a wide, goofy smile. "You're right, Jessica. Princess Henrietta is soooooo beautiful."

"Good for you, unlike someone else here," Jessica snickered. "Well, feel free to fill Harry in on what he's missing out on. I have to get back to work."

Harry waited until she was out of earshot before turning to Noel, who just took the seat next to him.

"Princess aside, how did it go?"

"I asked around, of course," Noel gave him a smug smile. "And found out where Countess Jacqueline's mansion is. I didn't see Remy's grandma near that house, but the people there told me that they had seen her before."

"Good job," Harry patted the bloke on the back. "Want some candies?"

He the offered Noel the two red candies from earlier. Noel, to his credit, looked at them suspiciously for a second before giving in and took one, only to scrunch his face the moment the candy touched his tongue.

"It's… very unique."

"That's the right word," Harry laughed again. "This last one will be for Neville. Speaking of which, I need to go see him. Feel free to roam the city as you like. We're going to be here for a few more days, but if you want to go back to Abeau's place, just tell me."

"Sure," Noel nodded. Something told Harry that he wasn't going to go back anytime soon. It was such a rare occasion to be in the Capital city after all.

* * *

When Harry came back to the room that he rented from Scarron, Neville was already there, with his arms folded against his chest while looking out of the window, down to the busy street below.

"How did it go?" Neville asked when he saw Harry.

"As good as it can be," Harry answered. "I'm tracking that pin right now. It looks like our princess won't be returning anytime soon. I don't want to confront her with all those guards around."

"There will be time," Neville nodded. "You're lucky that those kids were there though."

"Sure. But even if they weren't, I would have given her something myself," Harry waved his wand and conjured a blue rose out of thin air. "I've asked the girls here about the princess. They said that she usually receives tons of flowers whenever she goes out."

With another wave, he vanished the flower before continuing. "But it's true that I'm lucky this time. Flowers can be thrown away early. She might bring the pin with her and forget about it or something, so I can track her better."

"I see. So how it's going on Noel's end?"

"Good. He didn't see her, but other people have, and Remy was sure that she's there."

"So it's our turn, I guess?"

"Not until tonight, no need to be hasty," Harry chuckled. "We have the whole afternoon free, so do what you want until then. I'll pop back to Abeau's to continue on the wards. We'll meet here at… eight?"

"Sounds good," Neville smiled at him. "Guess I'll take a tour to see if there's anything about obscure magic or something."

"Alright, see you later."

Harry nodded and spun on his heel, disappearing after a loud 'Pop'. It was a good thing that he had already made the room soundproof, so he and Neville could apparate in or out whenever they wanted.

For once, their plan seemed to be going along smoothly, but the more dangerous part - the action, was still awaiting them once the sun went down.

Harry just hoped that nothing _too_ terrible would happen.

 **End of Chapter 5.**


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